Market Signals Transmitted by Grid Pricing

Grid pricing improves the flow of information to producers, but market signals sent by grids may not be clearly understood. This study uses a two-stage Coefficients of Separate Determination process, four sets of fed cattle carcass data, and sensitivity analyses to identify market signals sent by grid pricing. Weight sends a stronger market signal than carcass quality characteristics such as quality and yield grade. Although grids are shaping production, market signals indicate that lower quality carcasses are penalized more than higher quality carcasses are rewarded. Sensitivity analyses suggest changes in quality and yield grade discounts have the greatest impact on market signals.beef cattle, Coefficients of Separate Determination, grid pricing, market signals, value-based marketing, Demand and Price Analysis,

Putting It All Together: Incorporating

Views of critical thinking were culled from the literature and developed into a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) model that was implemented into the Internet course, “The Politics and Psychology of Hatred.” Assessment of student course postings demonstrated a strong relationship between interpersonal skills (referred to in the curriculum as “course etiquette”) and advancement on the levels of critical thinking. The implications of these findings are discussed

Personality traits distinguishing dementia with Lewy bodies from Alzheimer disease

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.neurology.org/content/68/22/1895.Objective: To identify personality traits that distinguish dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods: We examined 290 participants enrolled in a longitudinal study (nondemented control = 34, DLB = 128, AD = 128) followed to autopsy. As part of the annual interview with the collateral source, the clinician asked about specific changes in personality, interests, and drives based on items from the Blessed Dementia Scale (BDS). Statistical analysis was performed using χ2 and Fisher exact tests. Factor analysis was performed to determine underlying structure and receiver operating characteristic curves assessed the ability for each of three derived factors to discriminate DLB from AD. Results: The sample was evaluated for a mean of 4.8 visits (range 1 to 14) with a mean age of 77.6 ± 9.9 years. The participants' cognitive status ranged from nondemented (Clinical Dementia Rating [CDR] 0) through all stages of dementia (CDR ≥ 0.5). Personality traits that distinguished DLB included diminished emotional responsiveness (p = 0.004), relinquishing hobbies (p = 0.01), growing apathy (p = 0.03), and purposeless hyperactivity (p = 0.003). Factor analyses of the BDS revealed a PASSIVE factor (diminished emotional responsiveness, relinquished hobbies, growing apathy, and purposeless hyperactivity) explaining 10.4% of variance and that DLB was more likely to manifest these personality traits than AD (p = 0.001). The PASSIVE factor discriminated DLB from AD (area under the curve = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.54 to 0.68, p = 0.006). Any change in personality is associated with the presence of visual hallucinations. Conclusions: Our results suggest that incorporating a brief, simple inventory of personality traits may improve the identification of individuals with dementia with Lewy bodies

Population-Specific Vital Rate Contributions Influence Management of an Endangered Ungulate

To develop effective management strategies for the recovery of threatened and endangered species, it is critical to identify those vital rates (survival and reproductive parameters) responsible for poor population performance and those whose increase will most efficiently change a population\u27s trajectory. In actual application, however, approaches identifying key vital rates are often limited by inadequate demographic data, by unrealistic assumptions of asymptotic population dynamics, and of equal, infinitesimal changes in mean vital rates. We evaluated the consequences of these limitations in an analysis of vital rates most important in the dynamics of federally endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis sierrae). Based on data collected from 1980 to 2007, we estimated vital rates in three isolated populations, accounting for sampling error, variance, and covariance. We used analytical sensitivity analysis, life-stage simulation analysis, and a novel non-asymptotic simulation approach to (1) identify vital rates that should be targeted for subspecies recovery; (2) assess vital rate patterns of endangered bighorn sheep relative to other ungulate populations; (3) evaluate the performance of asymptotic vs. non-asymptotic models for meeting short-term management objectives; and (4) simulate management scenarios for boosting bighorn sheep population growth rates. We found wide spatial and temporal variation in bighorn sheep vital rates, causing rates to vary in their importance to different populations. As a result, Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep exhibited population-specific dynamics that did not follow theoretical expectations or those observed in other ungulates. Our study suggests that vital rate inferences from large, increasing, or healthy populations may not be applicable to those that are small, declining, or endangered. We also found that, while asymptotic approaches were generally applicable to bighorn sheep conservation planning, our non-asymptotic population models yielded unexpected results of importance to managers. Finally, extreme differences in the dynamics of individual bighorn sheep populations imply that effective management strategies for endangered species recovery may often need to be population-specific

Stakeholder Orientation, Managerial Discretion and Nexus Rents

A firm\u27s orientation toward its stakeholders determines how it will use the discretion accorded to it by external and internal circumstances. The interaction between these two factors affects a firm\u27s ability to create value in the short term and influences the level of discretion available to the firm in the long term. We argue that the interplay of discretion and orientation create a vicious (or virtuous) cycle, in which the firm either creates or destroys goodwill with stakeholders, thereby making it more or less likely that stakeholders will grant discretion in the future. This argument suggests an account of stakeholder management that is sensitive to variation in managerial discretion, an account that is more constrained than typical moral and instrumental prescriptions about how firms should treat stakeholders and less constrained than descriptions premised on more deterministic theories

Producer signals and incentives with grid pricing

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Mining the Indianapolis Recorder: An Exploratory Study of a Digital Humanities Dataset

This poster presents an initial study using full-text transcripts from the Indianapolis Recorder, one of the nation's most important African American newspapers. Basic text mining and visualization approaches are used to highlight this data set and its potential for use in the digital humanities

The standards of practice for delivery of polypharmacy and chronic disease medication reviews by general practice clinical pharmacists: a consensus study.

Background: General practice in the UK is experiencing a crisis. Greater multidisciplinary working is a potential solution. The new general practice contract in Scotland encourages this and includes a new pharmacotherapy service to be delivered by General Practice Clinical Pharmacists (GPCPs). Consensus is lacking for the standards of practice for delivery of pharmacotherapy medication reviews (which are polypharmacy and chronic medication reviews) as part of this service. Aim: To identify and validate standards of practice for polypharmacy and chronic disease medication (pharmacotherapy level 3) reviews conducted by GPCPs. Method: A two-phased mixed-methods consensus methodology was used. Phase 1: An expert group of GPCPs (n = 4) and clinical pharmacist managers (n = 2) responsible for delivering the pharmacotherapy service used a Modified Nominal Group Technique to generate potential standards. Phase 2: Two-round Delphi survey involving GPCPs with ≥ 1 year of experience of working in general practice (n = 159). Results: The expert group identified 44 potential standards of practice for polypharmacy and chronic disease reviews. Practicing GPCPs indicated during the Delphi phase that the 44 standards were applicable to practice. The standards of practice covered seven main categories: skills, environment, qualifications, qualities and behaviours, knowledge, process and experience. Conclusion: Practicing GPCPs indicated that the standards identified by the expert group are acceptable and valid for current practice and the delivery of polypharmacy and chronic medication reviews. The application of these standards to practice may help GPCPs and general practices to ensure equitable delivery of patient care

A conceptual model for the integration of social and ecological information to understand human-wildlife interactions

There is growing recognition that interdisciplinary approaches that account for both ecological and social processes are necessary to successfully address human-wildlife interactions. However, such approaches are hindered by challenges in aligning data types, communicating across disciplines, and applying social science information to conservation actions. To meet these challenges, we propose a conceptual model that adopts a social-ecological systems approach and integrates social and ecological theory to identify the multiple, nested levels of influence on both human and animal behavior. By accounting for a diverse array of influences and feedback mechanisms between social and ecological systems, this model fulfills a need for approaches that treat social and ecological processes with equal depth and facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the drivers of human and animal behaviors that perpetuate human-wildlife interactions. We apply this conceptual model to our work on human-black bear conflicts in Colorado, USA to demonstrate its utility. Using this example, we identify key lessons and offer guidance to researchers and conservation practitioners for applying integrated approaches to other human-wildlife systems