Seasonal Price Patterns for Arkansas Soybeans

Seasonality is generally regarded as a major feature in soybean market price variations. Recent years in Arkansas have seen considerable construction of on-farm storage, a move that could mitigate the seasonality effect on price variations. A study comparing cash price indices from the past ten years with results from a 1986 Arkansas study and a recent national-level study found that Arkansas soybean prices appear to have followed a consistent and logical pattern around their national average in spite of increased variability and uncertainty.Seasonality, soybean, cash price index, Demand and Price Analysis, Farm Management, Marketing,

Will the Patient-Centered Medical Home Transform the Delivery of Health Care?

Explores various definitions of the medical home model, its components, rationale, effect on primary care, issues for implementation such as costs and payment methods, evidence of effectiveness, and healthcare reform provisions promoting it

Susceptibility to Interpersonal Military Influence And Its Relationship With Heavyweight Motorcycles In The U.S.: A Generational Study

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine existing and potential motorcycle owners’ susceptibility to military interpersonal influence as it relates to brand identification, brand loyalty and purchase intention for cruiser and touring motorcycles, otherwise known as heavyweight motorcycles. The study also explores the generational influences on these relationships with regards to Generation Y and Baby Boomers. It contributes to existing literature by applying the susceptibility to interpersonal influence scale originally developed by Bearden, et al. (1989) to military influence. The research extends brand relationship literature (Fournier, 1998; Lam, et al., 2012; Kuenzel & Haliday, 2010) to heavyweight motorcycles. The methodology employed PLS-SEM analysis of data obtained from 226 online respondents who participated in a survey utilizing adapted existing scales. The study finds that susceptibility to military interpersonal influence positively relates to brand identification with heavyweight motorcycles and that it is also positively related to brand loyalty and purchase intention as mediated by brand identification. Generation strengthens the relationship between military influence and purchase intention as mediated by brand identification and is stronger for Baby Boomers than Generation Y. Direct effects of military influence to purchase intention and brand loyalty were negative, indicating that mediation was partial and competitive. The competitive mediation points to a missing mediator in the conceptual model that should be a focus of future research. The findings confirm that the military serves as an information or normative influence for motorcycle consumers, but only when this influence interacts with the brand’s identity

The search for novel analgesics: re-examining spinal cord circuits with new tools

In this perspective, we propose the absence of detailed information regarding spinal cord circuits that process sensory information remains a major barrier to advancing analgesia. We highlight recent advances showing that functionally discrete populations of neurons in the spinal cord dorsal horn play distinct roles in processing sensory information. We then discuss new molecular, electrophysiological, and optogenetic techniques that can be employed to understand how dorsal horn circuits process tactile and nociceptive information. We believe this information can drive the development of entirely new classes of pharmacotherapies that target key elements in spinal circuits to selectively modify sensory function and blunt pain

A comparison of surface sensible and latent heat fluxes from aircraft and surface measurements in FIFE 1987

Surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat over a tall-grass prairie in central Kansas, as measured by 22 surface stations during FIFE 1987, are compared with values gained indirectly by linear extrapolation of aircraft-measured flux profiles to the surface. The results of 33 such comparisons covering the period 26 June to 13 October 1987 indicate that the sensible heat flux profiles were generally more linear with less scatter in the measurements at each level than were the latent heat flux profiles, the profile extrapolations of sensible heat flux in general underestimate the surface averages by about 30 percent, with slightly better agreement during periods of small flux, and the profile extrapolations of latent heat flux in general underestimate the surface averages by about 15 percent, with overestimates during periods of small fluxes (dry conditions) and overestimates during periods of large fluxes (moist conditions). Possible origins of the differences between the two sets of measurements are discussed, as directions for further research

Neutrinos from beta processes in a presupernova: probing the isotopic evolution of a massive star

We present a new calculation of the neutrino flux received at Earth from a massive star in the $\sim 24$ hours of evolution prior to its explosion as a supernova (presupernova). Using the stellar evolution code MESA, the neutrino emissivity in each flavor is calculated at many radial zones and time steps. In addition to thermal processes, neutrino production via beta processes is modeled in detail, using a network of 204 isotopes. We find that the total produced $\nu_{e}$ flux has a high energy spectrum tail, at $E \gtrsim 3 - 4$ MeV, which is mostly due to decay and electron capture on isotopes with $A = 50 - 60$. In a tentative window of observability of $E \gtrsim 0.5$ MeV and $t < 2$ hours pre-collapse, the contribution of beta processes to the $\nu_{e}$ flux is at the level of $\sim90\%$ . For a star at $D=1$ kpc distance, a 17 kt liquid scintillator detector would typically observe several tens of events from a presupernova, of which up to $\sim 30\%$ due to beta processes. These processes dominate the signal at a liquid argon detector, thus greatly enhancing its sensitivity to a presupernova.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Individual Factors and Successful Learning in a Hybrid Course

What personality factors make for a successful hybrid L2 learning experience? While previous studies have examined online learning in comparative terms (i.e. Which format is better: in class or hybrid?), this study examines certain personality and cognitive factors that might define the ideal hybrid language learner. All informants studied introductory Spanish with multimedia materials supported by synchronous chat (video, voice, text). Personality and cognitive traits were probed using the Big Five Inventory scale (BFI1) and the Shipley Institute of Living scale (SILS2), respectively. The results were correlated with course outcomes and learner preferences for online, chat, or in-class activities. Exit interviews were conducted with an eye to offering a richer understanding of how hybrid students viewed online learning. The quantitative data revealed that conscientiousness (per BFI) had a significant, positive correlation with final grades. Low-verbal learners (per SILS) registered a definite preference for working with online materials, as opposed to learning in class or chatting online. The results suggest that students who are conscientiousness learners perform well within the hybrid-learning environment; low-verbal learners, in particular, value the online materials which create the possibility to work online at one\u27s own pace

E-Learning As A Career Path In Information Systems Curricula: A Blue Ocean Opportunity

E-learning is a rapidly growing industry with emerging career opportunities that require expertise in business, information technology, and instructional design. However, most academic institutions lack cohesive programs for preparing students for e-learning careers. We argue that information systems (IS) programs have a unique, “blue ocean” opportunity to prepare students for e-learning careers with nominal curricular adjustment. This paper builds on the MSIS 2006 model curriculum to describe an approach for incorporating e-learning as a career track in information systems (IS) graduate programs. An example e-learning curriculum from a large, public university in the western United States is also presented. We believe that an e-learning IS career track can enhance the appeal of the IS major by providing students with access to a multi-billion dollar industry and opening additional employment opportunities as they prepare for a career in business

Innovation Policy and Chronic Emergencies

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the potential role of the state as a driver of scientific innovation onto center stage. Vaccines have been developed and brought to market in a timescale that seemed almost impossible when the crisis first struck. The pivotal nature of government intervention in this crisis has added to calls from academics and policy makers to adopt a more proactive, mission-oriented approach to innovation policy to tackle other key global challenges. This Article considers the merits of these calls and argues that an important distinction must be drawn between what this Article terms acute and chronic emergencies. COVID-19 is a paradigmatic example of an acute emergency: its onset was rapid, its impact was dramatic, and it is a problem that demands resolution for life to proceed “as normal.” Chronic emergencies, such as the problem of Anti-Microbial Resistance, can be just as, or more deadly than, acute emergencies but have a “frog in the pot” quality. They emerge over time, and, although they can have profound social and economic effects, they do so in ways that are less immediate and hence less demanding of government attention. Without the urgency, sense of purpose, and spirit of cooperation that accompany acute emergencies, there is a risk that mission-oriented approaches may fail to deliver new technologies the world urgently needs. This Article considers the problem of applying mission-oriented approaches to chronic emergencies. The analysis is grounded in an examination of Britain’s system of innovation rewards in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, drawing on an extensive historical data set that the authors are continuing to develop. The central argument put forward in this Article is that Britain’s historical system offers lessons for crafting state intervention to spur innovation aimed at chronic emergencies today. Britain’s historical system was effective because rewards were largely bestowed post hoc with relatively little prescription as to the problems at which innovators should direct their efforts, and still less as to the methods and means that should be used to tackle them. Perhaps most importantly, these rewards fed into and helped create a culture of innovation. The Article concludes with a proposal for change—namely, that the way innovation prizes are designed should be reconsidered. Prizes must preserve space for scientific and technical freedom and ought not to be built around the sort of rigidly defined criteria that proponents of mission-oriented innovation policies often advocate

Policy responses to invasive native species: issues of social and private benefits and costs

Farm and catchment managers in Australia face decisions about controlling invasive native species (or scrub) which may infest agricultural land. The treatment of this land to remove the infestation and re-establish native pastures is likely to be expensive for landholders. Yet there are potential social benefits from such remediation and so a policy question arises of what to do to about facilitating such change. New South Wales state government legislation addresses this issue through regulations, and the Catchment Management Authorities are responsible for administering public funds to achieve associated natural resource improvements. However, the extent of the private costs and social benefits associated with such changes are not known, which precludes benefit-cost analyses using the traditional welfare economics framework. This paper reports results of a social and private economic analysis of the impacts of a typical infestation remediation decision. We show that for the landholder the private costs exceed the benefits achieved from increased livestock productivity. However, there are social benefits expressed by the willingness to pay by members of the local catchment community for improvements in native vegetation and biodiversity. When these social benefits are included, the economic analysis shows a positive social net benefit. This raises questions of how to reconcile the public and private accounting, and whether any changes to policies, regulations or procedures for natural resource management in New South Wales are warranted.Invasive native scrub, environmental values, choice modelling, financial, economic, Namoi catchment,