Risk and Return for Bioenergy Crops under Alternative Contracting Arrangements

This study evaluated the potential to supply biomass feedstocks under alternative contract arrangements for a northwest Tennessee 2,400 acre grain farm. The four potential types of contracts analyzed in this study offer different levels of biomass price, yield, and production cost risk sharing between the representative farm and the processor.Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Dynamic trust models for ubiquitous computing environments

A significant characteristic of ubiquitous computing is the need for interactions of highly mobile entities to be secure: secure both for the entity and the environment in which the entity operates. Moreover, ubiquitous computing is also characterised by partial views over the state of the global environment, implying that we cannot guarantee that an environment can always verify the properties of the mobile entity that it has just received. Secure in this context encompasses both the need for cryptographic security and the need for trust, on the part of both parties, that the interaction is functioning as expected. In this paper we make a broad assumption that trust and cryptographic security can be considered as orthogonal concerns (i.e. an entity might encrypt a deliberately incorrect answer to a legitimate request). We assume the existence of reliable encryption techniques and focus on the characteristics of a model that supports the management of the trust relationships between two entities during an interaction in a ubiquitous environment

The SECURE collaboration model

The SECURE project has shown how trust can be made computationally tractable while retaining a reasonable connection with human and social notions of trust. SECURE has produced a well-founded theory of trust that has been tested and refined through use in real software such as collaborative spam filtering and electronic purse. The software comprises the SECURE kernel with extensions for policy specification by application developers. It has yet to be applied to large-scale, multi-domain distributed systems taking different application contexts into account. The project has not considered privacy in evidence distribution, a crucial issue for many application domains, including public services such as healthcare and police. The SECURE collaboration model has similarities with the trust domain concept, embodying the interaction set of a principal, but SECURE is primarily concerned with pseudonymous entities rather than domain-structured systems

Patient-oriented and performance-based outcomes after knee autologous chondrocyte implantation: a timeline for the first year of recovery

It is well established that autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) can require extended recovery postoperatively; however, little information exists to provide clinicians and patients with a timeline for anticipated function during the first year after ACI. Objective: To document the recovery of functional performance of activities of daily living after ACI. Patients: ACI patients (n = 48, 29 male 35.1 ± 8.0 y). Intervention: All patients completed functional tests (weight-bearing squat, walk-across, sit-to-stand, step-up/over, and forward lunge) using the NeuroCom long force plate (Clackamas, OR) and completed patient-reported outcome measures (International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form, Lysholm, Western Ontario and McMaster Osteoarthritis Index WOMAC, and 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey) preoperatively and 3, 6, and 12 mo postoperatively. Main Outcome Measures: A covariance pattern model was used to compare performance and self-reported outcome across time and provide a timeline for functional recovery after ACI. Results: Participants demonstrated significant improvement in walk-across stride length from baseline (42.0% ± 8.9% height) at 6 (46.8% ± 8.1%) and 12 mo (46.6% ± 7.6%). Weight bearing on the involved limb during squatting at 30°, 60°, and 90° was significantly less at 3 mo than presurgery. Step-up/over time was significantly slower at 3 mo (1.67 ± 0.69 s) than at baseline (1.49 ± 0.33 s), 6 mo (1.51 ± 0.36 s), and 12 mo (1.40 ± 0.26 s). Step-up/over lift-up index was increased from baseline (41.0% ± 11.3% body weight BW) at 3 (45.0% ± 11.7% BW), 6 (47.0% ± 11.3% BW), and 12 mo (47.3% ± 11.6% BW). Forward-lunge time was decreased at 3 mo (1.51 ± 0.44 s) compared with baseline (1.39 ± 0.43 s), 6 mo (1.32 ± 0.05 s), and 12 mo (1.27 ± 0.06). Similarly, forward-lunge impact force was decreased at 3 mo (22.2% ± 1.4% BW) compared with baseline (25.4% ± 1.5% BW). The WOMAC demonstrated significant improvements at 3 mo. All patient-reported outcomes were improved from baseline at 6 and 12 mo postsurgery. Conclusions: Patients' perceptions of improvements may outpace physical changes in function. Decreased function for at least the first 3 mo after ACI should be anticipated, and improvement in performance of tasks requiring weight-bearing knee flexion, such as squatting, going down stairs, or lunging, may not occur for a year or more after surgery

The Variable-Rate Decision for Multiple Inputs with Multiple Management Zones

Research has evaluated the relative profitability of variable-rate versus uniform-rate application of a single input in fields with multiple management zones. This paper addresses the variable-rate decision for multiple inputs. The decision-making framework is evaluated for nitrogen and water applied to irrigated cotton in fields with three management zones.Crop Production/Industries,

MODELING FARM AND OFF-FARM ECONOMIC LINKAGES TO ANALYZE THE IMPACTS OF AN AREA-WIDE INSECT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ON A REGIONAL ECONOMY

This study evaluated the impacts of the boll weevil eradication program at the farm level and on the west Tennessee region. Budgets, an acreage response model, and an input-output model were used to evaluate direct and indirect program impacts. The program generates small but positive economic benefits for the region.Crop Production/Industries,

The Variable-Rate Input Application Decision for Multiple Inputs with Interactions

Research has evaluated the relative profitability of variable-rate (VRT) versus uniform-rate (URT) application of a single input in fields with multiple management zones. This study addresses map-based VRT decisions for multiple inputs in fields with multiple management zones. The decision-making framework is illustrated for nitrogen and water applied to irrigated cotton in fields with three management zones. Results suggest traditional methods of determining VRT application of a single input may by suboptimal if interactions exist among VRT inputs and URT inputs. Implications are that a systems approach to multiple-input VRT decisions can produce increased net returns to VRT.breakeven analysis, cotton, economic feasibility, multiple-inputs, precision farming, variable-rate technology, Crop Production/Industries,

Adoption of Conservation-Tillage Methods and Genetically Modified Cotton

Adoption of herbicide-tolerant cotton and conservation tillage may be simultaneously related. Bayes' theorem and a two-equation logit model were used to test the simultaneity hypothesis. Evidence for Tennessee suggests that adoption of these technologies reduced residual herbicide use and soil erosion more than if adoption of these technologies were independent.Bayes' theorem, conservation tillage, cotton, genetically modified crops, herbicide tolerant crops, simultaneous logit model, technology adoption, Crop Production/Industries, Q12, Q16, Q24, O33,

A POPULATION STUDY TO IDENTIFY FRACTURE RISK IN LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND

BACKGROUND: Fractures are in most cases treated by Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments and they have a substantial financial impact on health budgets. The epidemiology of fractures in the Liverpool city region has not been systematically investigated in recent years. This study aims to address this issue by providing valuable data that could aid in the design of fracture prevention strategies. METHODS: Population fracture data was collected by the Liverpool Primary Care Trust between February 2009 and July 2010, accounting for the majority of fractures registered in the city. The data was sorted by type, age, sex and upper/lower body in order to observe patterns in different groups. RESULTS: The data highlighted a significant difference between the sexes where anatomical sites varied greatly. Females suffer from fractures of the femur and the arm bones in a higher frequency, while males exhibit their highest fracture rates in the femur, lower arm and hand and craniofacial regions. Women also tend to have fractures later in life while most men fracture bones earlier. CONCLUSION: This finding corresponds with numerous sources in the medical literature. The present work supports the development of strategies designed to reduce fractures in specific age groups

Adoption of No-Tillage Practices, Other Conservation-Tillage Practices and Herbicide-Resistant Cotton Seed, and Their Synergistic Environmental Impacts

If adoption of herbicide-resistant seed and adoption of conservation-tillage practices are determined simultaneously, adoption of herbicide-resistant seed could indirectly reduce soil erosion and adoption of conservation-tillage practices could indirectly reduce residual herbicide use and increase farm profits. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between these technologies for Tennessee cotton production. Evidence from simultaneous estimation of a trinomial logit model for adoption of no-tillage, other conservation-tillage, and conventional-tillage practices and a binomial logit model for adoption of herbicide-resistant and conventional cotton seed suggests a simultaneous relationship. The elasticity for acreage in herbicide-resistant seed with respect to the probability of adopting conservation-tillage practices was 3.98. The elasticities for acreages in no-tillage practices and other conservation-tillage practices with respect to the probability of adopting herbicide-resistant cotton seed were 0.34 and 0.10, respectively. Adoption of herbicide-resistant cotton seed in Tennessee reduced soil erosion by 9.2 million tons through its effects on adoption of conservation-tillage practices. By 2004, increases in adoption of conservation-tillage practices increased adoption of herbicide-resistant cotton seed by 445 thousand acres, substituting non-residual herbicides for residual herbicides on those cotton acres.Environmental Economics and Policy,