NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES OF THE U.S. CONFECTIONERY MANUFACTURERS: 2006 SURVEY PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

This paper reports on the new product development practices of the U.S. confectionery manufacturers. A mail survey method was used to collect data. Confectionery manufacturers, specifically, new product development managers listed in the Thomas Food and Beverage Marketplace were contacted. A donation to charity on behalf of the respondents was used as an incentive to participate in the study. Analyses of the data, including graphical, descriptive, cross-tabulation, and correlation were conducted using SAS and SPSS econometric softwares and Microsoft Excel. Preliminary findings of the survey are reported in this paper.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Mending the Gap Between Law and Practice, Organizational Approaches for Women's Property Rights

This document presents information of how women in many countries are far less likely than men to own property and assets - key tools to gaining economic security and earning higher incomes. Though laws to protect women's property rights exist in most countries, gender and cultural constraints can prevent women from owning or inheriting property. In this series, ICRW suggests practical steps to promote, protect and fulfill women's property rights

Farmers' Subjective Valuation of Subsistence Crops: The Case of Traditional Maize in Mexico

Shadow prices guide farmers' resource allocations, but for subsistence farmers growing traditional crops, shadow prices may bear little relationship with market prices. We econometrically estimate shadow prices of maize using data from a nationally representative survey of rural households in Mexico. Shadow prices are significantly higher than the market price for traditional but not improved maize varieties. They are particularly high in the indigenous areas of southern and southeastern Mexico, indicating large de facto incentives to maintain traditional maize there.Shadow prices, non-market values, supply response, traditional crops, onfarm conservation, Mexico, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, O12, O13, Q12, Q39,

AJAE Appendix: Farmers' Subjective Valuation of Subsistence Crops: The Case of Traditional Maize in Mexico

The material contained herein is supplementary to the article named in the title and published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.Crop Production/Industries,

The Impacts of Atlantic Bonito Rush and the Avian Influenza on Meat Products in Turkey

The Atlantic bonito rush experienced in Turkey in the Fall of 2005 coincides with the avian influenza food scare that happened exactly at the same time-period in the country. In this research using time-series techniques, we investigate how the food scare and the excess fish caught jointly influence the demand for meat products in Turkey.

Factors Affecting Crop Insurance Purchase Decisions in Northern Illinois

When making crop insurance purchase decisions, farmers must consider multiple factors. This paper examines such factors through the use of a survey conducted in a 42 county region of Northern Illinois during 2005. Participants were asked who most influenced their crop insurance purchase decision and if the availability of a Premium Discount Plan (PDP) affected their decision. Respondents indicated that they generally made crop insurance purchase decisions independently, and that the availability of a PDP influenced about 25% of the decisions made. Questions about the importance of ten specific purchase factors were also asked in two distinct groups of five factors each. In one group of factors, price of the insurance was found to be more important than the probability of receiving a claim payment. The other group of factors revealed that government subsidization of premium and weather concerns were highly important to survey participants. Results have also been summarized according to the risk attitude of respondents. Crop insurance participation, plan and coverage level, and other demographic data were collected as well. Further analysis will be conducted to determine relationships between purchase decision factors and the characteristics of the respondents.Risk and Uncertainty,

Grain Marketing Tools: A Survey of Illinois Grain Elevators

As with most sectors of the agriculture economy, the U. S. country grain elevator industry has experienced considerable consolidation and concentration. By the same token, the country elevator's customer base (grain producers and landlords) has also changed rather dramatically as grain production takes place on larger and fewer farms. The profitability of operating a country elevator is directly related to the volume of grain the country elevator purchases over the course of a marketing year. Because the basic services offered by country elevators are very similar (purchasing, conditioning and storing grain), country elevators attempt to differentiate themselves from their competition by offering customers a variety of cash grain marketing tools. These tools range from the basic cash forward contracts to minimum price contracts to the so called 'new generation grain marketing contracts'. The primary focus of this paper is to determine the marketing contracts grain elevators offer to their customers and the extent to which these contracts are used by the elevator's customers. Additionally, the types grain contracts offered will be compared to the firm's storage capacity, business organization, size of customer base, geographic location and type of grain purchased.Crop Production/Industries, Marketing,

Long time behavior and stability of special solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations.

In this dissertation, in the first part, I study the long-time behavior of the solutions of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation and the Burgers-Sivashinsky equation. First, I work on a two-dimensional modified KS equation and prove the existence of a global attractor on a bounded domain. Next, I study the long-time behavior of the solutions of the one-dimensional BS equation for general initial data as opposed to the usually considered odd initial data. Third, I study the long-time behavior of radially symmetric solutions of the KS equation in a shell domain in three-dimensions. In the second part, we deal with the conditional stability of radial steady state solutions for the one-dimensional Klein-Gordon equation. I consider the one-dimensional case and construct the infinite-dimensional invariant manifolds explicitly. The result is a precise center-stable manifold theorem, which includes the co-dimension of the manifolds and the decay rates

My dear kitchen in Helsinki: Explorations on a community of practice using food, cooking and blogging

This study focuses on explorations on working with a community of practice, to gain a better understanding of interactions that result in learning between members of the community. The designer is a part of that community; therefore, explorations on the designer’s role are also investigated. Since the designer’s personal interest and skill is on food and cooking / baking, the community gathers around a food blog, which primarily aims to encourage people cooking more. Food is used and investigated as a communication tool enriching the interactions between members. Apart from the blog, offline eating together, cooking together events were organized; each cooking session is documented by photographs, personal notes and voice recording and reported on the blog. A survey is conducted through the blog to learn more about the members and to receive feedback from them about blog activities and content; interviews were conducted during offline cooking together sessions. As a result of this study, a learning network is developed by a blog as a community of practice. Members of this community affect the design and content of the blog. The social and cultural values of the members are transferred to each other through food and a new meaning is developed mutually. When the designer is part of this community, s/he gets a deeper understanding of that community, develops personal relationships and transfers his/her skills to other people. Therefore, this study can be an example to other designers that aim to work with communities towards social innovation