The Pricing Performance of Market Advisory Services in Corn and Soybeans Over 1995-2004

The purpose of this research report is to evaluate the pricing performance of market advisory services for the 1995-2004 corn and soybean crops. Marketing assumptions applied to advisory program track records are intended to accurately depict “real-world” marketing conditions facing a representative central Illinois corn and soybean farmer. Several key assumptions are: i) with a few exceptions, the marketing window for a crop year runs from September before harvest through August after harvest, ii) on-farm or commercial physical storage costs, as well as interest opportunity costs, are charged to post-harvest sales, iii) brokerage costs are subtracted for all futures and options transactions and iv) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) marketing loan recommendations made by advisory programs are followed wherever feasible. Based on these and other assumptions, the net price received by a subscriber to market advisory programs is calculated for the 1995-2004 corn and soybean crops. Market and farmer benchmarks are developed for the performance evaluations. Two market benchmarks are specified in order to test the sensitivity of performance results to changing benchmark assumptions. The 24-month market benchmark averages market prices for the entire 24-month marketing window. The 20-month market benchmark is computed in a similar fashion, except the first four months of the marketing window are omitted. Given the uncertainties involved in measuring the average price received by farmers, two alternative farmer benchmarks for central Illinois are specified. The market and farmer benchmarks are computed using the same assumptions applied to advisory program track records. Five basic indicators of performance are applied to advisory program prices and revenues over 1995-2004. Results show that advisory program prices fall in the top-third of the price range relatively infrequently. There is limited evidence that advisory programs as a group outperform market benchmarks, particularly after considering risk. The evidence is somewhat more positive with respect to farmer benchmarks, even after taking risk into account. For example, the average advisory return relative to the farmer benchmarks is 8 to $12 per acre with only a marginal increase in risk. Even though this return is small and mainly from corn, it nonetheless represents a non-trivial increase in net farm income per acre for grain farms in central Illinois. Test results also suggest that it is difficult to predict the year-to-year pricing performance of advisory programs based on past pricing performance. However, there is some evidence that performance is more predictable over longer time horizons, particularly at the extremes of performance rankings. The results raise the interesting possibility that even though advisory services do not appear to “beat the market,” they nonetheless provide the opportunity for some farmers to improve performance relative to the market. Mirroring debates about stock investing, the relevant issue is whether farmers can most effectively improve marketing performance by pursuing “active” strategies, like those recommended by advisory services, or “passive” strategies, which involve routinely spreading sales across the marketing window.Agricultural Finance, Financial Economics,

Absence of force suppression in rabbit bladder correlates with low expression of heat shock protein 20

BACKGROUND: Nitroglycerin can induce relaxation of swine carotid artery without sustained reductions in [Ca(2+)](i )or myosin regulatory light chain (MRLC) phosphorylation. This has been termed force suppression and been found to correlate with ser(16)-phosphorylation of heat shock protein 20 (HSP20). We tested for the existence of this mechanism in a smooth muscle that is not responsive to nitric oxide. METHODS: Isometrically mounted mucosa free rabbit bladder strips were contracted with carbachol and relaxed with 8-Br-cGMP, forskolin, or isoprenaline. RESULTS: Contraction was associated with a highly cooperative relation between MRLC phosphorylation and force such that very small increases in MRLC phosphorylation induced large increases in force. Relaxation induced by 8-Br-cGMP, forskolin, or isoprenaline did not shift the MRLC phosphorylation-force relation from that observed with carbachol alone, i.e. there was no force suppression. HSP20 content was negligible (approximately two hundred-fold less than swine carotid). CONCLUSION: The lack of force suppression in the absence of HSP20 is consistent with the hypothesized role for HSP20 in the force suppression observed in tonic smooth muscles

Sensing and Measuring the Environment Workshop as Exposure to Engineering Technology for High School Students in a Summer Residential Camp

Summer programs are the latest trend in extracurricular STEM education programs offered by universities. Efforts are made towards residential summer programs, which have the ability to expose students not only to specially designed STEM activities but to the university campus environment and student life, as well. These types of programs are expected to have better success in getting students engaged and to capture their interest in STEM fields. This paper presents one example of designing and implementing a summer residential workshop in order to expose high school students to the field of engineering technology, specifically to electrical circuits, electrical prototyping, microprocessor based design, sensing and measuring the environment, and the Internet of Things. The camp includes other workshops that are focusing on other areas of STEM, specifically science and mathematics. The paper presents the workshop setting, the activities organized, and the feedback received from students

Exposing Students to STEM Careers through Hands-on Activities with Drones and Robots

Autonomous robots have been used in a variety of ways from collecting specimen in hazardous environments to space exploration. These robots can be found in various manufacturing systems as Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) to transport parts and assemblies throughout the manufacturing system. They have also been used as a vehicle to convey design thinking and other STEM-related concepts in mechanical engineering/mechanical engineering technology, electrical engineering/electrical engineering technology, computer science, and computer engineering. Various outreach events have included robotics based activities that engage students in building and programming autonomous robots for the purpose of achieving a specific task. These events are often found in schools in a form of STEM outreach, career days, robotic competitions, or during residential on-campus programs. This paper focuses on three robotics related sessions conducted during a three-day summer residential program for high school students offered at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia during the summer educational program named ODU BLAST. ODU BLAST is part of a Virginia Space Grant Consortium initiative called Building Leaders for Advancing Science and Technology (BLAST), offered at three different universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Improving Stem Recruitment Through a Theme-Based Summer Residential Camp Focused on Sea Level Rise

In this paper, the authors present an enrichment program that focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) concepts. The program is named Building Leaders to Advance Science and Technology (BLAST) and is held each summer at three universities across the Commonwealth of Virginia: Old Dominion University, the University of Virginia, and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. BLAST is sponsored in partnership among these three universities and the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC), and is funded by the General Assembly of Commonwealth of Virginia. Its main purpose is to expose high school students to topics related to different STEM fields through engaging hands-on activities so that more high school graduates will choose to pursue STEM careers. The program stems from the first session that was held at Old Dominion University in June of 2016 and was named ODU BLAST 2016. Two additional sessions followed in the summers of 2017 and 2018. Each year, eighty rising ninth- and tenth grade students from across the state participated in this summer enrichment program. The program is residential and lasts three full days, Sunday to Wednesday, with an overarching theme focused on resilience to climate change and sea level rise. It includes faculty and students from various colleges and STEM fields. The main program has four rotating daily sessions, with additional sessions held on each of the three evenings that students spend on the ODU campus

Predicting the future of ALS: the impact of demographic change and potential new treatments on the prevalence of ALS in the United Kingdom, 2020-2116

OBJECTIVE To model the effects of demographic change under various scenarios of possible future treatment developments in ALS. METHODS Patients diagnosed with ALS at the King's College Hospital Motor Nerve Clinic between 2004 and 2017, and living within the London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham (LSL), were included as incident cases. We also ascertained incident cases from the Canterbury region over the same period. Future incidence of ALS was estimated by applying the calculated age- and sex-specific incidence rates to the UK population projections from 2020 to 2116. The number of prevalent cases for each future year was estimated based on an established method. Assuming constant incidence, we modelled four possible future prevalence scenarios by altering the median disease duration for varying subsets of the population, to represent the impact of new treatments. RESULTS The total number of people newly diagnosed with ALS per year in the UK is projected to rise from a baseline of 1415 UK cases in 2010 to 1701 in 2020 and 2635 in 2116. Overall prevalence of ALS was predicted to increase from 8.58 per 100,000 persons in 2020 to 9.67 per 100,000 persons in 2116. Halting disease progression in patients with C9orf72 mutations would yield the greatest impact of the modelled treatment scenarios, increasing prevalence in the year 2066 from a baseline of 9.50 per 100,000 persons to 15.68 per 100,000 persons. CONCLUSIONS Future developments in treatment would combine with the effects of demographic change to result in more people living longer with ALS

Association Between Parental History of Type 2 Diabetes and Glycemic Control in Urban African Americans

OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to examine the association between parental history of type 2 diabetes and glycemic control among diabetic urban African Americans

Exacerbation of hepatitis C induced subclinical hypoadrenalism by Interferon-alpha2beta: A case report

Adrenal disease is an uncommon manifestation of hepatitis C infection and its related treatment regimen. This is a case of subclinical hypoadrenalism, probably induced by hepatitis C infection and further exacerbated by interferon-α2β and Ribavirin therapy. The adrenal deterioration during the treatment course was observed closely with 24-hour salivary profiles and 250 μg adrenocorticotropin stimulation tests using parallel serum and salivary cortisol concentrations. A number of possible pathogenic mechanisms are discussed, and the controversy over its management is emphasized