Sage on the Stage: Big Data, Customized Learning, and the Desire for Human Interaction

A research question arising in academia is whether the desire by administrators to collect, analyze, and disseminate ‘big data’ has become a driving force in how education is delivered. One area where data is being collected on students is through the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). We wanted to explore whether students believed that the mass information collected on them would lead to improved customized education, or whether it would be used a cost-cutting mechanism to eliminate the lecturer. Lecturers salaries tend to make up the majority of academic budgets. Focus groups were conducted among first, second and final year undergraduate business students. Participants report that they do not wish to see VLEs replace traditional lectures or tutorials and there is some push-back by students in that they do not want the ‘sage on the stage’ to be replaced the use of data to customized student led learning. Business students in this sample view the value in VLEs to disseminate textbook and journal article information and to promote collaborative learning and contribute to employability. Implications for higher education are discussed

Cointegrated Vector Autoregression Methods: An Application to Non-Normally Behaving Data on Selected U.S. Sugar-Related Markets

The methods of the cointegrated vector autoregression/error correction (VAR/VEC) model are applied to monthly U.S. markets for sugar and for sugar-using markets for confectionary, soft drink, and bakery products. Primarily a methods paper, Johansen and Juselius' methods are applied, with a special focus on addressing well-known issues that preclude statistically normal behavior, and that confront the modelled sugar-based data. In so doing, we illustrate the effectiveness and the benefits of modelling this sugar-related set of markets as a cointegrated system. Perhaps for the first time, cointegrated VEC model results are used to estimate crucial policy-relevant market parameters that drive the markets, as well as to illuminate the dynamic nature of the relationships linking these sugar-based markets.cointegration, sugar-based U.S. markets, vector autoregression, vector error correction models, Industrial Organization, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Exploiting the Cointegration Properties of China’s Monthly Cotton Import Market and World Apparel Market Conditions: A Preliminary Analysis

Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade,

Improving Medication Reconciliation Using Provider Education and an EHR Hard Stop

AIM: By using a sequence of two distinct interventions, we aim to improve the rate of medication reconciliation at Jefferson Internal Medicine Assoc.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/patientsafetyposters/1026/thumbnail.jp

Renewable sources of energy in farming

One of significant elements of balanced progress, bringing in considerable ecological and energetic effects, is making use of energy from renewable sources. The development and exploitation of renewable energy is the proper course of action in favour of respecting the energy from conventional sources, as well as increase in energetic efficiency. Farming, aside from its basic function of producing food, may also provide materials for producing electrical and thermal energy, as well as fuel. Such materials may not only be farming products, but also its by-products or waste. By using them to produce energy or fuel, we gain doubled profit – we reduce the problem of management of these products and the following environmental burden and we diminish the consumption of conventional sources

A TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS OF THE U.S. DURUM WHEAT AND PASTA MARKETS

A quarterly, partial-equilibrium vector-autoregression model of the U.S. durum wheat and pasta markets was estimated and simulated under three trade-barrier changes that are of potential relevance for the current round of WTO agricultural negotiations: a rise in the U.S. market-clearing durum wheat quantity from increased imports; a policy- or tariff- reduction-induced decline in U.S. durum wheat price; and a tariff-induced rise in U.S. pasta product prices. In response to each shock, an array of quarterly dynamic response characteristics are examined: response reaction times, direction and pattern of quarterly responses, response durations, response multipliers, and strength of durum/pasta market interrelationships.Industrial Organization,

THE CORN-EGG PRICE TRANSMISSION MECHANISM

A vector autoregression (VAR) model of corn, farm egg, and retail egg prices is estimated and shocked with a corn price increase. Impulse responses in egg prices, t-statistics for the impulse responses, and decompositions of forecast error variance are presented. Analyses of results provide insights on the corn/egg price transmission mechanism and on how corn price shocks pulsate through the egg-related economy.Demand and Price Analysis,

Renewable Sources of Energy in Poland - photovoltaics

 Summary: Photovoltaics is used for producing the electric energy from the solar radiation. These installations are becoming more and more popular. Their main advantage is the possibility of being mounted at any place without the significant interference into the landscape. They can be used by household and/or the produced energy can be sold. Due to the obligation concerning the provision of 15.5% of energy coming from the renewable sources of energy by Poland in 2020, the solar energy can have a significant impact on the shape and work of national distribution network.