Opportunities and Training Needs in Non-farm Agricultural Occupations in a South-western Iowa School District

Various prominent figures on the American agricultural scene, farm magazine editors, and even, to a lesser degree, the general public have become aware of the need for skilled employees in agricultural non-farm occupations. While most vocational agriculture educators recognize the need and are quite willing to help solve the problem, they frequently are working blindly. Which occupations and jobs in a given community have need for high school vocational training? What is the employment outlook in these occupations for the foreseeable future? This study was expected to identify, describe, and classify non-farm agricultural jobs in the Hamburg community in order to accomplish these objectives: identify occupations In general and individual hobs specifically for which a positive need for high school vocational training exists, determine education, skills and competencies necessary to enter these occupations and make satisfactory advancement. Information collected will be made available to school board members, administrators, and teachers of Hamburg Community Schools. The purpose of this study was to test the following hypotheses relevant to non-farm agricultural occupations: there are more non-farm agricultural job opportunities annually than there are graduates of the vocational agriculture department to fill those, employers are interested in specifying educational achievements or skills to be learned in school by their prospective non-farm agricultural employees. This study was limited geographically to the Hamburg (Iowa) community school district, which significantly limited the numbers and kinds of occupations included in the sample. The study was limited primarily to the opinions of those interviewed, with no cross references

Genetic algorithms: a pragmatic, non-parametric approach to exploratory analysis of questionnaires in educational research

Data from a survey to determine student attitudes to their courses are used as an example to show how genetic algorithms can be used in the analysis of questionnaire data. Genetic algorithms provide a means of generating logical rules which predict one variable in a data set by relating it to others. This paper explains the principle underlying genetic algorithms and gives a non-mathematical description of the means by which rules are generated. A commercially available computer program is used to apply genetic algorithms to the survey data. The results are discussed

Multi-level study of C3H2: The first interstellar hydrocarbon ring

Cyclic species in the interstellar medium have been searched for almost since the first detection of interstellar polyatomic molecules. Eleven different C3H2 rotational transitions were detected; 9 of which were studied in TMC-1, a nearby dark dust cloud, are shown. The 1 sub 10 yields 1 sub 01 and 2 sub 20 yields 2 sub 11 transitions were observed with the 43 m NRAO telescope, while the remaining transitions were detected with the 14 m antenna of the Five College Radio Observatory (FCRAO). The lines detected in TMC-1 have energies above the ground state ranging from 0.9 to 17.1 K and consist of both ortho and para species. Limited maps were made along the ridge for several of the transitions. The HC3N J = 2 yields 1 transition were mapped simultaneously with the C3H2 1 sub 10 yields 1 sub 01 line and therefore can compare the distribution of this ring with a carbon chain in TMC-1. C3H2 is distributed along a narrow ridge with a SE - NW extension which is slightly more extended than the HC2N J = 2 yields 1. Gaussian fits gives a FWHP extension of 8'5 for C3H2 while HC3N has a FWHP of 7'. The data show variations of the two velocity components along the ridge as a function of transition. Most of the transitions show a peak at the position of strongest HC3N emission while the 2 sub 21 yields 2 sub 10 transition shows a peak at the NH3 position

Dissecting the spiral galaxy M83: mid-infrared emission and comparison with other tracers of star formation

We present a detailed mid-infrared study of the nearby, face-on spiral galaxy M83 based on ISOCAM data. M83 is a unique case study, since a wide variety of MIR broad-band filters as well as spectra, covering the wavelength range of 4 to 18\mu m, were observed and are presented here. Emission maxima trace the nuclear and bulge area, star-formation regions at the end of the bar, as well as the inner spiral arms. The fainter outer spiral arms and interarm regions are also evident in the MIR map. Spectral imaging of the central 3'x3' (4 kpc x 4 kpc) field allows us to investigate five regions of different environments. The various MIR components (very small grains, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, ionic lines) are analyzed for different regions throughout the galaxy. In the total 4\mu m to 18\mu m wavelength range, the PAHs dominate the luminosity, contributing between 60% in the nuclear and bulge regions and 90% in the less active, interarm regions. Throughout the galaxy, the underlying continuum emission from the small grains is always a smaller contribution in the total MIR wavelength regime, peaking in the nuclear and bulge components. The implications of using broad-band filters only to characterize the mid-infrared emission of galaxies, a commonly used ISOCAM observation mode, are discussed. We present the first quantitative analysis of new H-alpha and 6cm VLA+Effelsberg radio continuum maps of M83. The distribution of the MIR emission is compared with that of the CO, HI, R band, H-alpha and 6cm radio. A striking correlation is found between the intensities in the two mid-infrared filter bands and the 6cm radio continuum. To explain the tight mid-infrared-radio correlation we propose the anchoring of magnetic field lines in the photoionized shells of gas clouds.Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Preparing Australasian medical students for environmentally sustainable health care

Climate change and environmental degradation are harming the health of Australians and New Zealanders and pose a serious challenge to our health care systems.1, 2 The World Health Organization in 2019 identified climate change and air pollution as the top threat to human health globally;3 a threat clearly visible in the sustained air pollution over south-eastern Australia from bushfire smoke during the 2019–20 bushfire season. The health consequences of the bushfires and the associated prolonged, hazardous air quality prompted the Australian Medical Association and three medical colleges to declare climate change a public health emergency.4 Health care systems also contribute to climate change and environmental degradation. In Australia, health care contributes 7% of the country’s total carbon emissions and produces considerable waste which is either incinerated or sent to landfill.5 Despite these environmental challenges, there has been little response by medical programs to prepare medical graduates to manage the health impacts of climate change, and to practise environmentally sustainable health care. In 2018, we described an initiative to support medical educators and medical student organisations to work collaboratively to develop proposed learning objectives, curricula and learning resources addressing the health effects of climate change.6 This article describes the development of the model graduate outcome statements and learning objectives which have been shared with all medical schools in Australasia