ECONOMETRIC PRODUCTION MODELS WITH ENDOGENOUS INPUT TIMING: AN APPLICATION TO ECUADORIAN POTATO PRODUCTION

In this article, a model was developed in which the quantity and timing of input and harvest decisions are endogenous. The endogenous timing model allows all of the information about input and harvest behavior to be utilized, and it provides a basis for linking econometric production analysis to the time-specific analyses in other scientific disciplines used to assess the environmental or human health impacts of agricultural production practices. The case study of fungicide use on Ecuadorian potatoes was conducted with a unique data set containing detailed information on both quantity and timing of input use. The results showed that both quantity and timing of chemical use were responsive to economic variables.Crop Production/Industries,

Why Tangibility Matters: A Design Case Study of At-Risk Children Learning to Read and Spell

Tangibles may be effective for reading applications. Letters can be represented as 3D physical objects. Words are spatially organized collections of letters. We explore how tangibility impacts reading and spelling acquisition for young Anglophone children who have dyslexia. We describe our theory-based design rationale and present a mixedmethods case study of eight children using our PhonoBlocks system. All children made significant gains in reading and spelling on trained and untrained (new) words, and could apply all spelling rules a month later. We discuss the design features of our system that contributed to effective learning processes, resulting in successful learning outcomes: dynamic colour cues embedded in 3D letters, which can draw attention to how letter(s) position changes their sounds; and the form of 3D tangible letters, which can enforce correct letter orientation and enable epistemic strategies in letter organization that simplify spelling tasks. We conclude with design guidelines for tangible reading systems

Disclosure of Maternal HIV Status to Children: To Tell or Not To Tell . . . That Is the Question

HIV-infected mothers face the challenging decision of whether to disclose their serostatus to their children. From the perspective of both mother and child, we explored the process of disclosure, providing descriptive information and examining the relationships among disclosure, demographic variables, and child adjustment. Participants were 23 mothers and one of their noninfected children (9 to 16 years of age). Sixty-one percent of mothers disclosed. Consistent with previous research, disclosure was not related to child functioning. However, children sworn to secrecy demonstrated lower social competence and more externalizing problems. Differential disclosure, which occurred in one-third of the families, was associated with higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Finally, knowing more than mothers had themselves disclosed was related to child maladjustment across multiple domains. Clinical implications and the need for future research are considered

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP): Protocols and Pilot Studies

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) is a major international effort linking the climate, crop, and economic modeling communities with cutting-edge information technology to produce improved crop and economic models and the next generation of climate impact projections for the agricultural sector. The goals of AgMIP are to improve substantially the characterization of world food security due to climate change and to enhance adaptation capacity in both developing and developed countries. Analyses of the agricultural impacts of climate variability and change require a transdisciplinary effort to consistently link state-of-the-art climate scenarios to crop and economic models. Crop model outputs are aggregated as inputs to regional and global economic models to determine regional vulnerabilities, changes in comparative advantage, price effects, and potential adaptation strategies in the agricultural sector. Climate, Crop Modeling, Economics, and Information Technology Team Protocols are presented to guide coordinated climate, crop modeling, economics, and information technology research activities around the world, along with AgMIP Cross-Cutting Themes that address uncertainty, aggregation and scaling, and the development of Representative Agricultural Pathways (RAPs) to enable testing of climate change adaptations in the context of other regional and global trends. The organization of research activities by geographic region and specific crops is described, along with project milestones. Pilot results demonstrate AgMIP's role in assessing climate impacts with explicit representation of uncertainties in climate scenarios and simulations using crop and economic models. An intercomparison of wheat model simulations near Obregn, Mexico reveals inter-model differences in yield sensitivity to [CO2] with model uncertainty holding approximately steady as concentrations rise, while uncertainty related to choice of crop model increases with rising temperatures. Wheat model simulations with midcentury climate scenarios project a slight decline in absolute yields that is more sensitive to selection of crop model than to global climate model, emissions scenario, or climate scenario downscaling method. A comparison of regional and national-scale economic simulations finds a large sensitivity of projected yield changes to the simulations' resolved scales. Finally, a global economic model intercomparison example demonstrates that improvements in the understanding of agriculture futures arise from integration of the range of uncertainty in crop, climate, and economic modeling results in multi-model assessments

What can the language of musicians tell us about music interaction design?

It is difficult to create good interaction designs for music software or to substantially improve existing designs. One reason is that music involves diverse and complex concepts, entities, relationships, processes, terminologies, and notations. An open challenge for interaction designers is to find systematic ways of channeling the tacit, specialized knowledge of musicians into designs for intuitive user interfaces that can capably support musically skilled users, without excluding those with less technical musical knowledge. One promising new approach to this challenge involves the application of research from the theory of image schemas and conceptual metaphors This theory has already been applied with some success to analyzing musical concepts, mathematical concepts, general-purpose user-interface design, and sound-generation interaction designs involving simple musical parameters such as tempo, volume, and pitch. We propose that by identifying the conceptual metaphors and image schemas used by musical experts when analyzing an excerpt of music, and then assessing the extent to which these conceptual metaphors are supported by existing music-interaction designs, it is possible to identify areas where the designs do not match musicians’ understanding of the domain concepts. This process provides a principled basis for identifying points at which designs could be improved to better support musicians’ understanding and tasks, and for the provisional identification of possible improvements. We present the results of an analysis of dialogue between three musicians as they discuss an excerpt of music. A methodology for the systematic identification of image schemas and conceptual metaphors is detailed. We report on the use of the results of the dialogue analysis to illuminate the designs of two contrasting examples of music software. Areas in which the designs might be made more intuitive are identified, and corresponding suggestions for improvements are outlined. The present research appears to be the first to investigate the potential of conceptual metaphor theory for investigating and improving music-interaction designs that deal with complex musical concepts, such as harmonic progressions, modulation, and voice leading

Renegotiation and Relative Performance Evaluation: Why an Informative Signal may be Useless

Although Holmström's informativeness criterion provides a theoretical foundation for the controllability principle and inter firm relative performance evaluation, empirical and field studies provide only weak evidence on such practices. This paper refines the traditional informativeness criterion by abandoning the conventional full-commitment assumption. With the possibility of renegotiation, a signal's usefulness in incentive contracting depends on its information quality, not simply on whether the signal is informative. This paper derives conditions for determining when a signal is useless and when it is useful. In particular, these conditions will be met when the signal's information quality is either sufficiently poor or sufficiently rich

Biophysical and Economic Implications for Agriculture of +1.5 and +2.0C Global Warming Using AgMIP Coordinated Global and Regional Assessments

This study presents results of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) Coordinated Global and Regional Assessments (CGRA) of +1.5 and +2.0 C global warming above pre-industrial conditions. This first CGRA application provides multi-discipline, multi-scale, and multi-model perspectives to elucidate major challenges for the agricultural sector caused by direct biophysical impacts of climate changes as well as ramifications of associated mitigation strategies. Agriculture in both target climate stabilizations is characterized by differential impacts across regions and farming systems, with tropical maize (Zea mays) experiencing the largest losses while soy (Glycine max) mostly benefits. The result is upward pressure on prices and area expansion for maize and wheat (Triticum), while soy prices and area decline (results for rice, Oryza sativa, are mixed). An example global mitigation strategy encouraging bioenergy expansion is more disruptive to land use and crop prices than the climate change impacts alone, even in the +2.0 C World which has a larger climate signal and lower mitigation requirement than the +1.5 C World. Coordinated assessments reveal that direct biophysical and economic impacts can be substantially larger for regional farming systems than global production changes. Regional farmers can buffer negative effects or take advantage of new opportunities via mitigation incentives and farm management technologies. Primary uncertainties in the CGRA framework include the extent of CO2 benefits for diverse agricultural systems in crop models, as simulations without CO2 benefits show widespread production losses that raise prices and expand agricultural are

Electrochemical Oxidation and Sensing of Methylamine Gas in Room Temperature Ionic Liquids

The electrochemical behaviour of methylamine gas in several room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), [C2mim][NTf2], [C4mim][NTf2], [C6mim][FAP], [C4mpyrr][NTf2], [C4mim][BF4], and [C4mim][PF6] has been investigated on a Pt microelectrode using cyclic voltammetry. A broad oxidation wave at approximately 3 V, two reduction peaks and another oxidation peak was observed. A complicated mechanism is predicted based on the voltammetry obtained, with ammonia gas as a likely by-product. The currents obtained suggest that methylamine has a high solubility in RTILs, which is important for gas sensing applications. The analytical utility of methylamine was then studied in [C4mpyrr][NTf2] and [C2mim][NTf2]. A linear calibration graph with an R2 value of 0.99 and limits of detection of 33 and 34 ppm were obtained respectively, suggesting that RTILs are favourable non-volatile solvents for the electrochemical detection of highly toxic methylamine gas

Representative Agricultural Pathways and Scenarios for Regional Integrated Assessment of Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation

The global change research community has recognized that new pathway and scenario concepts are needed to implement impact and vulnerability assessment where precise prediction is not possible, and also that these scenarios need to be logically consistent across local, regional, and global scales (Moss et al., 2008, 2010). For global climate models, representative concentration pathways (RCPs) have been developed that provide a range of time-series of atmospheric greenhouse-gas concentrations into the future (Moss et al., 2008, 2010; van Vuuren et al., 2012a). For impact and vulnerability assessment, new socio-economic pathway and scenario concepts have also been developed (Kriegler, 2012; van Vuuren et al., 2012b), with leadership from the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC)..

Evidence for Time-of-Day Dependent Effect of Neurotoxic Dorsomedial Hypothalamic Lesions on Food Anticipatory Circadian Rhythms in Rats

The dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) is a site of circadian clock gene and immediate early gene expression inducible by daytime restricted feeding schedules that entrain food anticipatory circadian rhythms in rats and mice. The role of the DMH in the expression of anticipatory rhythms has been evaluated using different lesion methods. Partial lesions created with the neurotoxin ibotenic acid (IBO) have been reported to attenuate food anticipatory rhythms, while complete lesions made with radiofrequency current leave anticipatory rhythms largely intact. We tested a hypothesis that the DMH and fibers of passage spared by IBO lesions play a time-of-day dependent role in the expression of food anticipatory rhythms. Rats received intra-DMH microinjections of IBO and activity and body temperature (Tb) rhythms were recorded by telemetry during ad-lib food access, total food deprivation and scheduled feeding, with food provided for 4-h/day for 20 days in the middle of the light period and then for 20 days late in the dark period. During ad-lib food access, rats with DMH lesions exhibited a lower amplitude and mean level of light-dark entrained activity and Tb rhythms. During the daytime feeding schedule, all rats exhibited food anticipatory activity and Tb rhythms that persisted during 2 days without food in constant dark. In some rats with partial or total DMH ablation, the magnitude of the anticipatory rhythm was weak relative to most intact rats. When mealtime was shifted to the late night, the magnitude of the food anticipatory activity rhythms in these cases was restored to levels characteristic of intact rats. These results confirm that rats can anticipate scheduled daytime or nighttime meals without the DMH. Improved anticipation at night suggests a modulatory role for the DMH in the expression of food anticipatory activity rhythms during the daily light period, when nocturnal rodents normally sleep