IMPACT OF ALTERNATIVE GRID PRICING STRUCTURES ON CATTLE MARKETING DECISIONS

Quality grade, yield grade, and other feedlot performance factors explain much of the variation in profit under grid pricing. Thus, feedlot owners can change profits by adjusting time on feed to influence these performance factors. This research uses growth models, logistic regression, and an optimization process to determine how the optimal number of days on feed changes under different grid pricing structures. It was found that large quality or small yield discounts increases the optimal number of days on feed and small quality or large yield discounts result in fewer days on feed. Losses associated with a grid having large quality discounts are minimized as cattle fed for more days are able to obtain Choice premiums despite the discounts for more Yield Grade 4 and 5 carcasses. Given small quality discounts, cattle fed for a shorter length of time can obtain the Yield Grade 1 and 2 premiums without a large loss in revenue due to grading Select or Standard. Under cash pricing, cattle are fed for very long periods because there are no discounts applied to the carcasses and, therefore, the more weight they gain, the more revenue they generate. During periods of low feed prices, cattle can be fed longer so more cattle grade Prime but also have more Yield Grade 4 and 5 cattle.grid pricing, profits, animal growth, logistic regression, days on feed, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,

Fruits of Forced Desire: A Marxist Reading of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”

Christina Rossetti’s 1859 poem, “Goblin Market,” is a tale of two maidens fearful of goblin merchants who canter about the glen selling an array of tempting fruits. Outside traditional feminist interpretations, the poem demonstrates the Marxist theory concerning commodification and reification. The maidens reveal the process in which human beings become commodities, solidifying Marx’s statement that: “the increasing value of the world of things proceed in direct proportion the devaluation of the world of men.” Using specific aesthetic features common in the works of art during the Pre-Raphaelite movement, the poem further underscores the overall effects of laborer alienation and industrial aggression towards the working class, the negative dominance of capital and commodity fetishism through the supremacy of industrialization, the abundance (as detailed by the multiple fruits Rossetti describes) of available mass-produced goods, and the consumerist desire for such commodities. Furthermore, a comprehensive examination of Rossetti’s application of rhythm and meter will demonstrate how the power of desire is manipulated and controlled by the goblin men to dehumanize the maidens, forcing them to assume the character of exchange-value, and ultimately selling their bodies for material desire. The multiplicity of viewpoints that Marxist theory presents in “Goblin Market” exposes the ills of class inequality, commodity persuasion, and the conformity of the mass population to the bourgeoisie, resulting in the dehumanization of the proletariat. This presentation is a stylistic analysis of Rossetti’s poem to demonstrate how alienated the working class was in the mid-19th century. Furthermore, by applying a Marxist analysis of the poem, conclusions will be drawn to further discuss how desire of commodity effects current affairs

Primary Nursing: A Cost and Quality Effective Patient Care Structure

This descriptive study was undertaken to investigate differences in cost-effectiveness and quality patient care between primary nursing and team/functional nursing as practical in a 113 bed acute care community hospital. The sample was comprised of 80 hospitalized patients that were divided equally between a primary and team-functional nursing unit. Quality of Care was measured by the Rush-Medicus Nursing Care Quality System and cost effectiveness was determined by annual salaries.; Using a t-test statistical analysis, no significant differences were obtained in quality of patient care when using a primary nursing care structure with less FTEs as compared to a team leading nursing structure using more FTEs. The employee salary relationship showed that primary nursing unit costs were 11.7% higher than the team-leading unit, but when orientation for new staff and additional personnel salaries are factored out, the total demonstrates that primary nursing unit costs were not different than those of the teamleading unit

As No One Lay Trying to Die

These will prep the churchy masses and the desperate tryst. I sold the rest stop and I told the best stop and I stop and stop. These our American rhythms. These our God bless you platitudes and God bless you. Please.https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/onearth/1014/thumbnail.jp

Determination of complex absorbing potentials from the electron self-energy

The electronic conductance of a molecule making contact to electrodes is determined by the coupling of discrete molecular states to the continuum electrode density of states. Interactions between bound states and continua can be modeled exactly by using the (energy-dependent) self-energy, or approximately by using a complex potential. We discuss the relation between the two approaches and give a prescription for using the self-energy to construct an energy-independent, non-local, complex potential. We apply our scheme to studying single-electron transmission in an atomic chain, obtaining excellent agreement with the exact result. Our approach allows us to treat electron-reservoir couplings independent of single electron energies, allowing for the definition of a one-body operator suitable for inclusion into correlated electron transport calculations.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures; to be published in the J. Chem. Phy

THE EFFECT OF MOISTURE CONTENT AND COMPOSITION ON THE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH AND RIGIDITY OF COB MADE FROM SOIL OF THE BRECCIA MEASURES NEAR TEIGNMOUTH, DEVON

Earth has been used as a reliable building material for many thousands of years. Recently there has been a world wide renaissance in the use of earth as a building material due to its architectural versatility and environmental sustainability. However, in the United Kingdom it is regarded by the majority of building professionals as either obsolete or a novel historical material. The utilisation of earth as a modern building material and the repair of historic earth building structures is retarded by the uncertainty of the knowledge of the properties of the material. This thesis considers earth building materials as composite materials containing a cohesive, low compression modulus binder fraction, a high compression modulus aggregate fraction, and a fibre fraction. The compression properties of a building material without fibre content (cob matrix material) are described in terms of the interaction between the binder and aggregate fractions, and moisture and the binder fraction. The effect of the moisture content of the material upon the compression failure mechanisms is described. Values of compression modulus predicted by a rule of mixtures equation are compared to experimental results for this material. The following mechanisms are proposed to account for the apparent discrepancy between the predicted and experimental results: • the effect of pore size distribution and the proportions of binder and aggregate fractions upon strain magnification within the material • the effect of an efficiency factor, primarily dependent upon the proportion of binder and aggregate fractions, which determines the degree to which the potential modulus of the material is realised. Time Domain Reflectometry is employed for repeated, real time, non destructive measurement of the moisture content of an external cob wall. The results of these measurements are analysed and discussed. This thesis proposes that consideration of cob as a composite material has developed a paradigm which will enhance the level of understanding of all earth building materials, enabling the manipulation and accurate prediction of their structural properties. This will be an important contribution to the realisation of the significant sustainable qualities of earth building materials by the current construction industry