A Note on a Conjecture of Watanabe and Yoshida

We consider a conjecture of Watanabe and Yoshida concerning the Hilbert - Kunz multiplicity of an ideal in a Cohen-Macaulay ring and provide a proof of the conjecture in the case the ring is graded.Comment: 6 page

Major League Baseball: America’s Recession-Proof Pastime

This project is a study which examines how attendance levels in Major League Baseball stadiums have been impacted by the current recession in the United States which began in October 2007. Research on attendance during past recessions has shown a strong relationship that during downtrends in the economy, baseball attendance levels generally do not suffer. Using an ordinary least squares regression, independent variables including; percent change in ticket price from previous season, distance to closest competitor, percent change in ticket price of the closest competitor, winning percentage during previous year, winning percentage during current year, unemployment rate during current year, per capita income during current year, and a dummy variable were run against the dependent variable of season attendance totals for 29 of the 30 MLB teams (Those located within the US). The data used is from the years 2008 and 2009, the first and second years of the current recession. Results were analyzed to find if there were any relationships that proved to be significant, with a t-Stat score \u3e 2 or a P-value \u3c .10. The variables of team’s current year winning percentage and presence of a new stadium are the only variables that prove to be significant during both seasons, with a positive correlation for both years. Unemployment becomes significant during the 2009 season, and also changes from being negatively correlated to positively correlated with attendance levels from one year to the next. Overall, the league as a whole had a drop in attendance of 1.09% and 6.59% during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, which were the first and second seasons following the start of the recession. Based on the trend of attendance during past recessions, one would expect that for the upcoming year attendance numbers would jump back up to their 2007 levels. However, due to the length and severity of the recent recession, as well as the growing amount of substitutes available, attendance may suffer more and for longer than it ever has before

Profitability of Organic Farming Systems

The majority of the farmers I meet, that are interested in organic farming are financially driven. It is important that the message on financial returns from organic farming is clear. In cattle production systems when we look at the figures, the majority of cattle farmers are making a positive gross margin but are spending some of the premia cheque to cover fixed costs. In the organic situation costs are generally lower but so is gross output. The net margin delivered on organic beef farms is on average higher than the average beef farmer. The targets I have set on the paper that I believe are achievable on the majority of organic beef farms and should be profitable enterprises. When the financial analysis is completed on organic dairy farms, it must be noted that when measured in net margin achieved per litre or per cow the results are as good as the best dairy farmers in the country, however the key issue is stocking rate. Only dairy farmers stocked up to about 1.7 livestock units per hectare will increase net margin. Farms stocked higher than this will loose out unless the milk price gap widens significantly. In the tillage sector my colleagues produce crop budgets each year, last year the budgets went out the window as harvest returns disastrous due to the weather. The organic tillage budget produced in the paper shows excellent returns for organic tillage crops. The cost of imports and lack of supply is keeping the price up, the weakening of sterling may have an effect later on, however even if organic grain prices drop significantly, the returns are mush better than conventional tillage. This is an option Irish tillage farmers should be exploring

Space debris: Orbital microparticulates impacting LDEF experiments favour a natural extraterrestrial origin

The results of work carried out at the Unit for Space Sciences at the University of Kent at Canterbury, United Kingdom, on the micrometeoroid and space debris environment of near Earth space are described. The primary data for the research program is supplied by an examination of several types of exposed surface from the NASA Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), including an experiment dedicated to the detection of micrometeoroids and space debris provided by the University

A picture worth millions: state of the young people’s workforce

"This is a three year project, sponsored by the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and the Children’s Workforce Network, to establish the most up to date picture of the young people’s workforce in England and to improve the data for effective workforce planning to achieve the Aiming High for Young People Strategy."

Financial Performance of Organic Cattle Farming

FFI/ha on organic cattle rearing farms was 56% higher than on conventional farms due entirely to lower costs of production (€240/ha v €640/ha). However the organic farms were selected as monitor farms and therefore represent the better producers whilst the conventional farms were selected at random. Output and direct payments per ha were higher on conventional farms but not sufficient to cover the additional costs. Organic farms were 24% larger than conventional farms. Organic drystock cattle producers had a more viable socio-economic profile, whilst technical performance was higher on the conventional farms. Organic dairy farms had 7% higher farm income over conventional dairy farmers in 2007. However, these data are based on a small sample and should therefore be interpreted with caution

Inspiring practice: a guide to developing an integrated approach to supervision in children’s trusts

CWDC would like to thank Fran McDonnell and Harry Zutshi for their work on this guide

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 459

In the matter of the fact-finding between the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, employer, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 459, union. PERB case no. M2009-336. Before: James R. McDonnell, Ph.D., fact finder