What Do We Know About the Economic Efficiency of Cooperatives: An Evaluative Survey

A debate has arisen concerning the economic efficiency of cooperatives relative to other organizational forms. This paper discusses the efficiency concepts and economic theory relevant to the debate and then proceeds to study the empirical evidence. No credible evidence exists to support the proposition that cooperatives are inefficient relative to investor-owned businesses.Agribusiness,

Bioans: bio-inspired ambient intelligence protocol for wireless sensor networks

This paper describes the BioANS (Bio-inspired Autonomic Networked Services) protocol that uses a novel utility-based service selection mechanism to drive autonomicity in sensor networks. Due to the increase in complexity of sensor network applications, self-configuration abilities, in terms of service discovery and automatic negotiation, have become core requirements. Further, as such systems are highly dynamic due to mobility and/or unreliability; runtime self-optimisation and self-healing is required. However the mechanism to implement this must be lightweight due to the sensor nodes being low in resources, and scalable as some applications can require thousands of nodes. BioANS incorporates some characteristics of natural emergent systems and these contribute to its overall stability whilst it remains simple and efficient. We show that not only does the BioANS protocol implement autonomicity in allowing a dynamic network of sensors to continue to function under demanding circumstances, but that the overheads incurred are reasonable. Moreover, state-flapping between requester and provider, message loss and randomness are not only tolerated but utilised to advantage in the new protocol

Strategic Management and the Internal Organization of Food Marketing Firms

Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

Poetry Out Loud: Two Perspectives, Overview

Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation contest begun by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation in 2006, is described from two perspectives: this short article is by the director of the Maine Arts Commission, which administers the program in Maine

The agricultural industry as percieved by members of the general public of Louisiana

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and perceptions of the animal, plant, environmental, and food sciences by the adult residents of Louisiana. This study was conducted using a survey research design. This survey utilized random telephone dialing techniques in order to survey 547 residents of Louisiana. The survey instrument consisted of fifty-five questions divided into three sections: demographic characteristics, agriculture knowledge, and perception of agriculture. The overall mean agriculture knowledge score of adult residents of Louisiana for the twenty items included in the survey instrument equaled 13.60 (SD = 2.743) or 68%. Perceptions of agriculture results reported nine items classified in the “agree” category, six were classified “neither agree nor disagree” category, and five were classified “disagree”. Adult members of the general public of Louisiana have more positive perceptions of agriculture with regard to the “Attitude toward Farming” (M= 3.81, SD= .73) and “Issues Related to Food Supply” (M= 3.72, SD= .49). Eighteen significant correlations were reported between the knowledge and perception concept areas. It is concluded that adult members of the general public of Louisiana have a moderately high level of knowledge with regard to agriculture. Adult respondents have the highest levels of knowledge in the Environmental Science. The perception concept areas “Attitude toward Farming” and “Issues Related to Food Supply” are more positive, while the perception concept areas “Farming Practices” and “Food Prices” are both ambivalent. Due to the reported relationship, an increase in agricultural knowledge may result in a more positive increase in perceptions of agriculture. The researcher recommends continuation and expansion in mass media promotion such as billboards, television ads, newspaper articles, web postings, use of “YouTube”, blog sites, and group networking sites. Similarly, the researcher encourages the promotion of “agritourism” endeavors, allowing perceptions to be made based on personal experiences. The researcher further recommends increasing publication of classroom agriculture education materials designed to reach various audiences and expansion to distribute materials to more educators at the school level. The researcher recommends continuation of universal agriculture educational programming such as FFA, 4-H, and general agriculture in university curricula

Restructuring's Effect on Related and Unrelated Diversification Among Top Food Manufacturing Firms in the 1980s

Corporate restructuring during the 1980s is argued to have focused on improving firm performance by increasing related and decreasing unrelated diversification. The restructuring patterns of top food manufacturing firms do not support this; instead, much of the restructuring appears to have been driven by the pursuit of stronger market positions. TheAgribusiness, Industrial Organization,