Agricultural Exports by Cooperatives, 1980

Sixty-three agricultural cooperatives had direct exports of $3.2 billion in calendar year 1980. Grains and preparations had the largest dollar volume of direct exports, followed by oilseeds, cotton, and fruits. Cooperative share of U.S. agricultural exports decreased from 9.2 percent in 1976 to 7.8 percent in 1980. Asian and European countries were the largest markets for direct exports by cooperatives in 1980.Agricultural exports, cooperative exports, cooperative export marketing, direct commodities exports, indirect commodities exports, International Relations/Trade,

Reading, Writing, and Thinking about Disability Issues

Nearly all secondary educators are required to take at least one special education course to become certified. However, the focus of this course is generally on how to teach Special Education (SPED) students, not how to teach about disability issues and culture. In fact, much attention is given to keeping Learning Disabled/Emotional Disorder/Behavioral Disorder (LD/ED/BD) students’ disabilities invisible. Teachers learn how to modify lesson plans so as not to expose these disabilities as well as to increase a sense of inclusion for the SPED student. While we believe that the emphasis on privacy rights and inclusion is essential, we also argue that the (in)visibility of disability in our classrooms is problematic. As the opening quote above suggests, whether we talk about it or not, (dis)ability issues permeate our classes, our teaching, and our students’ experiences in and outside of the classroom. We have found that students encounter disability issues from a variety of sources (e.g., family, friends, school policies/officials, fundraisers, doctors, TV shows, and websites). However, they tend to think about disability as an individual issue—something they “have” that can be stigmatized and/or a person who suffers from a deficit or loss who needs to be “cured,” pitied, or treated differently differently from “normal” people. We want to encourage teachers and students to examine and reflect on how these perceptions of disability are created, how we might engage with issues of disability more critically, and teach all students more effectively

Geospatial Data Preservation Prime

This primer is one in a series of Operational Policy documents being developed by GeoConnections. It is intended to inform Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) stakeholders about the nature and scope of digital geospatial data archiving and preservation and the realities, challenges and good practices of related operational policies. Burgeoning growth of online geospatial applications and the deluge of data, combined with the growing complexity of archiving and preserving digital data, has revealed a significant gap in the operational policy coverage for the Canadian geospatial data infrastructure (CGDI). Currently there is no commonly accepted guidance for CGDI stakeholders wishing or mandated to preserve their geospatial data assets for long-term access and use. More specifically, there is little or no guidance available to inform operational policy decisions on how to manage, preserve and provide access to a digital geospatial data collection. The preservation of geospatial data over a period of time is especially important when datasets are required to inform modeling applications such as climate change impact predictions, flood forecasts and land use management. Furthermore, data custodians may have both a legal and moral responsibility to implement effective archiving and preservation programs. Based on research and analysis of the Canadian legislative framework and current international practices in digital data archiving and preservation, this primer provides guidance on the factors to be considered and the steps to be taken in planning and implementing a data archiving and preservation program. It describes an approach to establishing a geospatial data archives based on good practices from the literature and Canadian case studies. This primer will provide CGDI stakeholders with information on how to incorporate archiving and preservation considerations into an effective data management process that covers the entire life cycle (DCC, 2013) (LAC, 2006) of their geospatial data assets (i.e., creation and receipt, distribution, use, maintenance, and disposition. It is intended to inform CGDI stakeholders on the importance of long term data preservation, and provide them with the information and tools required to make policy decisions for creating an archives and preserving digital geospatial data

Transitioning to Society 5.0 in Africa: Tools to Support ICT Infrastructure Sharing

Society 5.0 represents an opportunity to transform the economy and create a digital society with the goal of long-term sustainable development and economic growth. There is a growing importance of boosting ICT as an effective and efficient means of achieving this transformation, and Target 9c of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is to ‘Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries’. Mobile telecommunication systems have become the most effective and convenient means of communicating in the world, and as such, they are revolutionizing business operations. Nigeria is the fastest growing telecommunication market in Africa, with approximately 298 million subscribers accommodated by over 53,000 base transceiver stations (BTSs) which are largely concentrated in urban areas. As a result of increasing subscribers, all mobile network service providers in Nigeria are building new BTSs, often without considering existing infrastructure. This has led to a proliferation of masts, defacing the environment and causing unnecessary environmental pollution as BTSs are largely powered by diesel generators. It is therefore becoming paramount for the telecommunication regulatory body in Nigeria to enforce principles of infrastructure sharing and the colocation of sites for all mobile network service provider BTSs to improve network availability, reliability, scalability, customer satisfaction and sustainability. This paper argues, through the development of ICT tools and their application to a case study, that infrastructure sharing and colocation of sites is not only feasible if supported correctly but also offers the potential to reduce operational and capital expenditure, reduce the number of BTSs required for the rapidly growing mobile telecoms industry in Nigeria and in doing so reduce environmental pollution

Customer effort in value cocreation activities: improving quality of life and behavioral intentions of health care customers

Transformative service research is particularly relevant in health care where the firm and customer can contribute to individual as well as societal well-being. This article explores customer value cocreation in health care, identifying a hierarchy of activities representing varying levels of customer effort from complying with basic requirements (less effort and easier tasks) to extensive decision making (more effort and more difficult tasks). We define customer Effort in Value Cocreation Activities (EVCA) as the degree of effort that customers exert to integrate resources, through a range of activities of varying levels of perceived difficulty. Our findings underscore the importance of viewing health care service as taking place within the customer's service network that extends well beyond the customer-firm dyad to include other market-facing as well as public and private resources. Moreover, we demonstrate the transformative potential of customer EVCA linking customer EVCA to quality of life, satisfaction with service and behavioral intentions. We do so across three prevalent chronic diseasescancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Our findings highlight how an integrated care model has benefits for both customers and providers and can enhance customer EVCA

Perceptions of acute Care Telemedicine among Caregivers For Persons Living With Dementia: a Qualitative Study

Persons living with dementia (PLWD) have high emergency department (ED) utilization. Little is known about using telemedicine with PLWD and caregivers as an alternative to ED visits for minor acute health problems. This qualitative interview-based study elicited caregivers\u27 perspectives about the acceptability of telemedicine for acute complaints. We performed telephone interviews with 28 caregivers of PLWD from two academic EDs, one in the Northeast and another in the South. Using a combined deductive-inductive approach, we coded interview transcripts and elucidated common themes by consensus. All caregivers reported they would need to participate in the telemedicine visit to help overcome communication and digital literacy challenges. People from racial/ethnic minority groups reported lower comfort with the virtual format. In both sites, participants expressed uncertainty about illness severity that could preclude using telemedicine for acute complaints. Overall, respondents deemed acute care telemedicine acceptable, but caregivers describe specific roles as crucial intermediaries to facilitate virtual care

How do you feel today? Managing patient emotions during health care experiences to enhance well-being

Health care customers (patients) experience heightened emotions due to high stakes from risks to life, health, and well-being. Understanding and managing emotions during service experiences is an important area of inquiry because emotions influence customer perceptions, future intentions and behaviors. Yet despite its significance, research focusing on the impact of emotions on customer experiences remains fragmented, lacking a theoretically based conceptual framework. The authors attempt to fill this gap by addressing two important research questions contextualized in health care: (1) How can health care organizations better understand patient and family emotions during health care experiences? and (2) How should health care organizations use this understanding to design and better manage patient experiences to enhance patient well-being? The authors propose a new theoretically based framework on emotional responses following triggering events to enhance outcomes. Recommendations designed to enhance health care customer well-being are provided, as are directions to guide future work