Off-farm Income and Investments in Farm Assets: A Double Hurdle Approach

The farm household structure is a complex set of inter-relationships between and among a variety of internal and external factors involving consumption, investment, and income-earning activities. In this paper we use ARMS data to explore the contribution of off-farm income to the viability of the farm business. We focus on the link between off-farm income and farm investment and whether off-farm income drives on-farm investment. The results indicate the importance of farm characteristics such as type, size, and location on the probability of investment but lead us to reject the hypothesis that off farm income is driving farm investment. Further research will be needed to further unweave some of the complex relationships involved in the farm household structure. Keywords: Farm investments, off-farm income, double hurdleOff-farm income, farm investment, double hurdle, Agricultural Finance, Financial Economics, D1, J2, Q12,

Preparing Students to be Effective Information Technology Project Managers: Can More Focus on Dialogue and Communication Processes Help?

The overall importance of dialogue and communication processes to scientific and technical problem solving is already well established in communication and project management literature (e.g., Bohm, 1999; Isaacs, 1999; Schwalbe, 1999; Kerzner, 1998). However, very little of this literature has been specifically applied to the fast-growing field of Information Technology/Information Systems (IT/IS) project management and to the pedagogical issues surrounding the teaching of students how to be more effective in working together as a team to solve IT/IS systems development problems. Many of the articles and books that address the subject have focused on some of the more obvious needs for better listening skills, more effective written and oral communication skills, techniques for helping to get your point across, etc. These are important but there is also a need for a more in depth look at the problem by applying some of the more ideological concepts related to “dialogue” introduced by Bohm and Isaacs

Study Abroad and College Students of the African Diaspora: Attitudes, Access and Barriers

This qualitative study examined the attitudes, preferences, and barriers to participation experienced by African American students attempting to participate in study abroad programs. A literature review indicates that African American students are grossly underrepresented in global education opportunities when compared with their overall enrollment numbers. Study abroad has been named as a valuable (both personally and academically) enriching experience granting competitive edges in postgraduate and professional endeavors in a globalized world. Twenty participants from purposively selected universities across the United States participated in a short-answer survey of either twelve or seven questions, depending on if they participated in a study abroad program or not. The results suggest that finances, institutional factors, and individual differences are significant factors in determining if an African American student will study abroad. Future studies tracking Black students’ active intent to study abroad, as well as those that do study abroad, can provide more insight to universities as they attempt to increase this group of students’ participations.Michelle Renee’ Harris - [email protected] W. Hynes - [email protected] Renee’ Harris - MEd is the Global Programs Coordinator for all programs affiliated with the African Bioethics Consortium at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Her primary research/career focuses are international education program management, with special focus on minority, low-income, 1st generation, and other underrepresented groups’ participation in in global education opportunities.James W. Hynes - Corresponding author. PhD. is an Associate Professor in the School of Teaching and Learning at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. His research focus is primarily centered on two topics. The first is sustainable development in agriculture and education in developing countries located primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. The second focus supports the first - right sizing animal traction agricultural implements developed and used by U.S. Amish farmers. This adaptation allows farmers in developing countries, whose primary source of power is either human or animal, to increase their food production and quality of life without the use of combustion engines.Michelle Renee’ Harris - Sam Houston State UniversityJames W. Hynes - Sam Houston State UniversityArmstrong, G. K. (1984). Life after study abroad: A survey of undergraduate academic and career choices. The Modern Language Journal, 68(1), 1-6.Barbuto Jr., J. E., Beenen, G., & Tran, H. (2015). The role of core self-evaluation, ethnocentrism, and cultural intelligence in study abroad success. The Journal of Management Education, 13, 268-277.Brux, J. M., & Fry, B. (2010). Multicultural students in study abroad: Their interests, their issues, and their constraints. Journal of Studies in International Education, 14(5), 508-227.Carlson, J. S., & Widaman, K. F. (1998). The effects of study abroad during college on attitudes toward other cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(88)90003-XChieffo, L., & Griffiths, L. (2004). Large-scale assessment of student attitudes after a short-term study abroad program. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10, 165-177.Dwyer, M. M. (2004). More is better: The impact of study abroad program duration. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10, 151-163.Dwyer, M. M., & Peters, C. K. (2004). The Benefits of study abroad: New study confirms significant gains. Retrieved from Transitions Abroad: https://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0403/benefits_study_abroad.shtmlEducators, N. A. (2018). Trends in U.S, study abroad. Retrieved from NAFSA: https://www.nafsa.org/Policy_and_Advocacy/Policy_Resources/Policy_Trends_and_Data/Trends_in_U_S__Study_Abroad/Engberg, M. E. (2013). The influence of study away experiences on global perspective-taking. Journal of College Student Development, 54(5), 466-480.Giedt, T., Gokcek, G., & Ghosh, J. (2015). International education in the 21st Century: The importance of faculty in developing study abroad research opportunities. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 26, 167-186.Gieser, J. D. (2015). A sociocultural investigation of identity: How students navigate the study abroad experience. Journal of College Student Development, 56(6), 637-643.Goldstein, S. B., & Kim, R. I. (2006). Predictors of US college students’ participation in study abroad programs: A longitudinal study. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 30(4), 507-521.Kadmar, N., & Lewis, T. (2015). Deriving long-term benefits from short-term study-abroad programs. The Journal of Management and Engineering Integration, 7(2), 1-11.Kowarski, L. (2010). Colleges help students to translate the benefits of study abroad. Retrieved from The Chronicle of Higher Education: https://www.chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Help-Students-to/123653Lee, C. S., Therriault, D. J., & Linderholm, T. (2012). On the cognitive benefits of cultural experience: Exploring the relationship between study abroad and creative thinking. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 26(5), 768-778.Lee, J., & Green, Q. (2016). Unique opportunities: Influence of study abroad on black students. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 28, 62-77.Lewis, W. (2016). Study abroad influencing factors: An investigation of socio-economic status, cultural, and personal factors. Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal of the University of Northern Colorado, 5(3), 58-73.Lu, C., Reddick, R., Dean, D., & Pecero, V. (2015). Coloring up studying abroad: Exploring black students’ decision to study in China. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 52(4), 440-451.Luo, J., & Jamieson-Drake, D. (2015). Predictors of study abroad intent, participation, and college outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 56(1), 29-56.M’Balia, T. (2013). The problematization of racial/ethnic minority student participation in U.S. study abroad. Applied Linguistics Review, 4(2), 365-390.Norris, E. M., & Gillespie, J. (2008). How study abroad shapes global careers: Evidence from the United States. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(3), 382-397.Paige, R. M., Fry, G. W., Stallman, E. M., Josic, J., & Jon, J.-E. (2009). Study abroad for global engagement: The long-term impact of mobility experiences. Intercultural Education, 20((sup1)), S29-S44.Petzold, K., & Peter, T. (2015). The social norm to sStudy abroad: Determinants and effects. Higher Education, 69(6), 885-900.Potts, D. (2015). Understanding the early career benefits of learning abroad programs. Journal of Studies in International Education, 19(5), 441-459.Salisbury, M. H., Paulsen, M. B., & Pascarella, E. T. (2011). Why do all the study abroad students look alike? Applying an integrated student choice model to explore differences in the factors that influence white and minotiry students’ intent to study abroad. Research in Higher Education, 52, 123-150.Simon, J., & Ainswoth, J. W. (2012). Race and socioeconomic status differences in study abroad participation: The role of habitus, social networks, and cultural capital. International Scholarly Research Network. https://doi.org/10.5402/2012/413896Slotkin, M. H., Durie, C. J., & Eisenberg, J. R. (2012). The benefits of short-term study abroad as a blended learning experience. Journal of International Education in Business, 5(2), 163-173.Slotkin, M. H., Vamosi, A. R., & Perez, E. M. (2016). Study tours and the diversification of cultural capital aAquisition. Journal of International Education in Business, 9(1), 70-86.Smith, D. E., & Mitry, D. (2008). Benefits of study abroad and creating opportunities: The case for short-term programs. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching, 1(1), 236-245.Stroud, A. H. (2010). Who plans (not) to study abroad? An examination of U.S. student intent. Journal of Studies in International Education, 14(5), 491-507.Wang, L. C., Gault, J. J., Christ, P., & Diggin, P. A. (2016). Individual attitudes and social influences on college students’ intent to participate in study abroad programs. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 26(1), 103-128.Xiaoxuan, L. (2004). A study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the benefits of study abroad. Chinese Education and Society, 37(2), 61-87.Zemach-Bersin, T. (2007). Global citizenship & study abroad: It’s all about U.S. Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices, 1(2), 16-29.32112

Determinants of Farm Household Income Diversification in the United States: Evidence from Farm-Level Data

This study examines the determinants of income diversification of farm households in the United States. Farm households allocate their time between farm and off-farm activities to help stabilized household income (consumption). What characterizes those households who engage in off-farm activities? Is there any pattern over time? Using 1999, 2003 and 2007 farm-level data from the USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), this study estimates intensity of off-farm income (or income diversification). The results show that older operators, full owners, and small farms have higher intensity of off-farm income in total household income. In contrast, dairy farms, vertically coordinated farms and farms located in the Southern and Pacific regions have lower intensity of off-farm income. In other words, household incomes of these farms are less likely to be diversified.Tobit, income diversification, vertical integration, tenure, farm households, Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, D1, J2, Q12,

The Ages of the Thin Disk, Thick Disk, and the Halo from Nearby White Dwarfs

We present a detailed analysis of the white dwarf luminosity functions derived from the local 40 pc sample and the deep proper motion catalog of Munn et al (2014, 2017). Many of the previous studies ignored the contribution of thick disk white dwarfs to the Galactic disk luminosity function, which results in an erronous age measurement. We demonstrate that the ratio of thick/thin disk white dwarfs is roughly 20\% in the local sample. Simultaneously fitting for both disk components, we derive ages of 6.8-7.0 Gyr for the thin disk and 8.7 $\pm$ 0.1 Gyr for the thick disk from the local 40 pc sample. Similarly, we derive ages of 7.4-8.2 Gyr for the thin disk and 9.5-9.9 Gyr for the thick disk from the deep proper motion catalog, which shows no evidence of a deviation from a constant star formation rate in the past 2.5 Gyr. We constrain the time difference between the onset of star formation in the thin disk and the thick disk to be $1.6^{+0.3}_{-0.4}$ Gyr. The faint end of the luminosity function for the halo white dwarfs is less constrained, resulting in an age estimate of $12.5^{+1.4}_{-3.4}$ Gyr for the Galactic inner halo. This is the first time ages for all three major components of the Galaxy are obtained from a sample of field white dwarfs that is large enough to contain significant numbers of disk and halo objects. The resultant ages agree reasonably well with the age estimates for the oldest open and globular clusters.Comment: ApJ, in pres

Dense, Parsec-Scale Clumps Near the Great Annihilator

We report on Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy and James Clerk Maxwell Telescope observations toward the Einstein source 1E 1740.7–2942, a low-mass X-ray binary commonly known as the "Great Annihilator." The Great Annihilator is known to be near a small, bright molecular cloud in a region largely devoid of emission in ^(12)CO surveys of the Galactic center. This region is of interest because it is interior to the dust lanes which may be the shock zones where atomic gas from the HI nuclear disk is converted into molecular gas. We find that the region is populated with a large number of dense (n ~ 10^5 cm^(–3)) regions of excited gas with small filling factors. The gas appears to have turbulent support and may be the result of sprays of material from collisions in the shock zone. We estimate that ~(1-3) × 10^5 M⊙ of shocked gas resides in our r ~ 3', Δv_(LSR) = 100 km s^(–1) field. If this gas has recently shocked and is interior to the inner Lindblad resonance of the dominant bar, it is in transit to the x_2 disk, suggesting that a significant amount of mass may be transported to the disk by a low filling factor population of molecular clouds with low surface brightness in larger surveys

Dense, Parsec-Scale Clumps near the Great Annihilator

We report on Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA) and James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) observations toward the Einstein source 1E 1740.7-2942, a LMXB commonly known as the "Great Annihilator." The Great Annihilator is known to be near a small, bright molecular cloud on the sky in a region largely devoid of emission in 12-CO surveys of the Galactic Center. The region is of interest because it is interior to the dust lanes which may be the shock zones where atomic gas from HI nuclear disk is converted into molecular gas. We find that the region is populated with a number of dense (n ~ 10^5 cm^-3) regions of excited gas with small filling factors, and estimate that up to 1-3 x 10^5 solar masses of gas can be seen in our maps. The detection suggests that a significant amount of mass is transported from the shock zones to the GC star-forming regions in the form of small, dense bundles.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication by the Astrophysical Journal, abstract abridge