Human ecology and sociology: The development of human ecology in the department of sociology at the university of Chicago 1914 - 1939

The development of human ecology is closely associated with the rise of empirical sociological research in the United States. Human ecology played an important part in the programme of research into the city of Chicago which was formulated by Robert Park and carried out by his associates and graduate students in the Sociology Department of the University of Chicago in the inter-war years. As the name of the sub-discipline suggests, human ecology derived a series of theoretical principles about the sustenance and spatial relations of population aggregates from plant and animal ecology, and applied them to the study of human society. An understanding of the central theoretical assumptions of Chicago human ecology can be gained by an exploration of human ecology's relationship to sociology and general ecology, as well as by examining the sub-discipline’s contribution to the Chicago Sociologists' theory of the city. Human ecology’s development can also be understood as having been influenced by the empirical studied of the city of Chicago which were carried out by Park's students in the 192ds and early 1930s. These studies, which used human ecology as a frame of reference played a very important part in establishing a tradition of empirical sociological research in the United States

CHARACTERISTICS OF MASTER'S PROGRAMS IN AGRIBUSINESS MANAGEMENT

This study describes and compares agribusiness master’s programs in North America. These programs include the master of business administration (MBA) and master in (or “of”) agribusiness (MAB) degrees. Accredited MBA programs with an agribusiness emphasis are required to have a clear required core of courses in finance, management, marketing management, and human behavior. Additional required courses in policy, agricultural marketing, production or managerial economics, and quantitative methods are also frequently required. MAB programs have more diversity regarding the four core subjects with a greater percentage of the courses taught within departments of agricultural economics. Evaluation of agribusiness master’s programs in agricultural economics departments is difficult without any formal evaluation criteria.Agribusiness, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

A Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis of Bean Producers from North and South Kivu

The purpose of this research is to determine how technically efficient small-scale producers are in two provinces (North and South Kivu) in the Democratic of Republic (DR) of Congo at producing two different varieties of beans: bush and climbing beans. In addition to calculating the efficiency scores, this research attempts to identify what producer and field characteristics affect these scores. We hypothesize that bean producers will be more productive than producers in South Kivu and that climbing bean producers will be more productive than bush bean producers. Technical efficiency is estimated using a nonparametric approach. A tobit model is used to examine the effect of producer and field characteristic on the efficiency score. On average, farms were 66% technically efficient. North Kivu bean producers and climbing bean producers have, on average, a higher technical efficiency score than their counterparts. Implications from this research suggest that there is room for improvement in the technical efficiency scores for producers in DR of Congo. Based on the results, it may be more productive to continue focusing on improving the yield and nutritional content of climbing beans.Production Economics, Production Economics,

The Importance of Using Deviations of the Vertical for the Reduction of Survey Data to a Geocentric Datum

This paper reviews the deviation of vertical and its use in the reduction of terrestrial survey data such as directions, azimuths, zenith angles and slope distances. The deviations of the vertical over Australia will change by an average of 6.8 due to the implementation of the Geocentric Datum of Australia. Therefore, for most applications, the deviation of the vertical may no longer be neglected in survey computations and adjustments. With the release of the AUSGeoid98, absolute deviations of the vertical at the geoid and with respect to the GRS80 ellipsoid are now available for these purposes. The improvements made when using deviations of the vertical are demonstrated for several worked examples. The exception is that the deviation of the vertical should not be applied when computing height differences from zenith angles and slope distances for use on the Australian Height Datum (AHD)

Studies of dental root surface caries. 2: The role of cementum in root surface caries

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Artificial caries lesions were produced in roots of teeth using an acetate buffer system, when the layer of cementum was either normal in thickness, excessively thickened by hypercementosis, of had been removed completely. The rates of lesion progression were measured in each case using polarized light microscopy to measure lesion depth. Analysis of calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) loss during the demineralizing process was carried out. The removal of cementum was found to significantly increase the initial rate of penetration of the lesion into the root, although this rate progressively reduced to a level consistent with that found in normal roots after seven days of demineralization. The overall depth remained consistently greater than that observed in normal roots, or when lesions were produced entirely within hyperplastic cementum. Chemical analysis also showed removal of cementum resulted in an initial doubling of the Ca and P lost from the root surface. Prior direct exposure of segments of normal roots to the oral environment was found not to significantly alter the rate of artificial lesion progression, in comparison with that in the originally protected segment of the root surface. It was concluded that an intact cementum layer has the intrinsic ability to protect the underlying dentine of exposed tooth roots against acidic demineralization and that prior exposure to the oral environment does not significantly alter this ability.J.M. McIntyre, J.D.B. Featherstone, J. F

Assessment of EGM2008 over Britain using vertical deflections, and the problems with historical data

Vertical deflections synthesised from the Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008) agree with astrogeodetic vertical deflections observed over mainland Britain to within ~1.2" RMS (north-south) and ~1.4" RMS (east-west), which is commensurate with values reported for North America, Australia and parts of continental Europe. For this assessment in Britain, there has been the additional need to transform the observed relative vertical deflections to absolute ones. Not applying horizontal datum transformations led to spurious results, so absolute vertical deflections must always be used to assess EGMs. Three datum transformations were trialled (three-parameter, seven-parameter and OSTN02), which show similar results when considering the estimated ~0.3" precision of these historical (1950 to 1976) astrogeodetic observations. Several other problems were encountered because of the historical nature of the data, comprising destruction of survey pillars, ambiguous station names, and a mixture of horizontal geodetic datums available in Britain

A Method to Validate Gravimetric Geoid Computation Software Based on Stokes's Integral Formula

A method is presented with which to verify that the computer software used to compute a gravimetric geoid is capable of producing the correct results, assuming accurate input data. The Stokes, gravimetric terrain correction and indirect effect formulae are integrated analytically after applying a transformation to surface spherical coordinates centred on each computation point. These analytical results can be compared with those from geoid computation software using constant gravity data in order to verify its integrity. Results of tests conducted with geoid computation software are presented which illustrate the need for integration weighting factors, especially for those compartments close to the computation point

RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY AND SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS FACULTY IN THE SOUTHERN REGION: A QUARTER OF A CENTURY LATER

Productivity and characteristics of southern agricultural economics faculty was compared to other regional faculty. With few exceptions, faculty members in the Southern region are as productive as their counterparts. We also found that the majority of respondents in all regions considered themselves in the top-quartile in all areas.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

DETERMINANTS OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC FACULTY SALARIES: A QUARTER OF A CENTURY LATER

Factors influencing the salaries of university agricultural economists were examined and compared to previous work. Results suggest the impact of publication output has remained relatively constant for the past 25 years, while other factors like grantsmanship have changed significantly. Additional analyses suggest significant impacts of appointment apportionment and Ph.D. programs.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,