Alternative Pricing and Delivery Strategies for Alberta Cattle Feeders

This study evaluates the risk and returns to cattle feeding in Alberta from the application of alternative marketing and pricing strategies. Feedlot finishing of 650 pound calves and 800 pound yearlings is modeled over the years from 1980 to 1993. The results of the study are based on the domestic and US marketing of live cattle using traditional cash marketing, futures contracts, put options, and forward production contracting systems. Use of the Western Domestic Feed Barley contract is also simulated. The results showed that barley price changes produced relatively small return changes compared to feeder and fat cattle price changes. An important source of return risk was found to be basis risk. Production contracting strategies which eliminated basis risk were found to provide the best returns in a market based risk-return comparison. The use of put options did not add value to cattle feeding investments.Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing,

Participative Approaches to Enhance Adoption of Fasciolosis Control Strategies in Cattle, in Yogya-Karta Province, Indonesia

Fasciolosis is a widespread, significant, endemic problem in cattle in rice-growing areas of Indonesia. Its effects are usually sub-clinical so it remains largely unrecognised by farmers and extensionists. Indonesian and Australian parasitologists have developed a suite of control strategies. Initial attempts to promote these strategies through Transfer of Technology (TOT) approaches achieved increased awareness, but little lasting change in farmer practices was evident 4 years later. This paper reports on the process, and early promising results from, an initiative to trial a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology to stimulate an extension process whose outcome is effective, sustainable fasciolosis control in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. In PAR, groups of farmers, extension agents and scientists work closely in a cooperative and flexible process, to resolve commonly identified problematic issues. The emphasis is on working with rather than for people through an interactive process to enhance opportunities for learning by doing. The process involved working through a four-step process to gain credible access to four farmer groups in three villages identified as having a fasciolosis problem. This was followed by a 9-month long series of activities, coordinated through farmer group meetings, which included (1) creating awareness through developing a media package, and then maintaining farmer involvement through (2) design and execution of field trials, (3) monitoring results, and (4) presentation and discussion of results with farmers. Group meetings were an important part of the information exchange process, and the use of learning aid tools was regarded as complementary for interpersonal communication. Of the four recommended control strategies, two were already practised for reasons other than fasciolosis control, one was acceptable but had prohibitive cost, and the fourth was unattractive because it was technically difficult to implement. A significant development was a new strategy generated within a farmer group that was adopted readily by other groups. We conclude that adoption of technical innovations by farmers depends largely on two issues: (i) the nature of the associated farming systems, and (ii) the way in which the innovation is presented through extension agency activity. A participative approach appears to have considerable potential for stimulating significant practice change, particularly if it incorporates farmer involvement in generation and dissemination of locally relevant knowledge and recommendations. PAR fosters such a reflexive approach.Fasciolosis control, participatory action research, adoption process, Livestock Production/Industries,

Growth of III-V films by control of MBE growth front stoichiometry

For the growth of strain-layer materials and high quality single and multiple quantum wells, the instantaneous control of growth front stoichiometry is critical. The process of the invention adjusts the offset or phase of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) control shutters to program the instantaneous arrival or flux rate of In and As4 reactants to grow InAs. The interrupted growth of first In, then As4, is also a key feature

A Study in the Comparison of Ocular and Extremity Dominance Among a Stuttering and Non-Stuttering School-Age Population

The nul-hypothesis has been confirmed by the analysis of the study, in that they show no relationship between stuttering and unilateral dominance. The results indicate that the laterality measure of the experimental group did not differ significantly from that of the control group. In as much as the results of only one statistical test were significant, it is felt that this does not detract from the contribution of the study. It would seem that the results obtained from this comparison, the analysis of overall visual adequacy and extremity dominance, could have occurred by chance alone. It is pointed out, however, that this test was distinctly different from all other tests performed; and it is felt that careful consideration should he given to this factor in a total evaluation of the results obtained. The statistical analysis of the data compiled were done by way of the. t\u27 test of significance, which included computation of the t\u27 statistic to test whether scores obtained on selected tests were statistically significant, and the Chi Square Test, which was used to determine the presence or absence of factors indicating a greater or less degree of dominance confusion. The experimental and control groups were composed of a total of twenty subjects, who were administered The Harris Tests of Lateral Dominance, the Leavell Hand-Eye Coordinator Tests, and the Keystone Visual Survey; Tests for the purpose of exploring the relationship of measures of lateral dominance. On the basis of the results obtained from this investigation, the following conclusions seem warranted: Stuttering subjects do not show a higher incidence of extremity and ocular dominance confusion that do non-stuttering controls. The lack of unilateral dominance would not be considered a factor regarding lateral dominance as it relates to stuttering. A significantly greater proportion of stutterers were shown to have a visual inadequacy in association with extremity in-coordination and imbalance. Further research of the relationship of lateral dominance confusion and stuttering observed by more clinicians is needed. Further research in the development of instruments to assess lateral dominance is indicated. [Keywords: Stuttering, Neurological Organization, Lateral Dominance, Mixed Dominance, Dominant Eye

Operations research: a definition and analysis for management

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston Universit