Letter from James L. Mitchell to James B. Finley

Mitchell writes from the Town Street M.E.C. to let Finley know that there is a group of members opposed to the reappointment of Rev. Granville Moody. The group has composed a letter to the Ohio Conference requesting that a different pastor be appointed. Mitchell does not believe that the letter is right and proper. If the Conference decides to reappoint Moody there will be many members who will be pleased. The letter does not represent the wishes of the entire congregation. Abstract Number - 290https://digitalcommons.owu.edu/finley-letters/1287/thumbnail.jp

RISK AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: A TARGET-MOTAD ANALYSIS OF THE 92-YEAR "OLD ROTATION"

Target-MOTAD was used to assess the risks and returns of sustainable cotton crop rotations from Auburn University's 92-year "Old Rotation." Study results analyze rotations of continuous cotton, with and without winter legumes; two years of cotton-winter legumes-corn, with and without nitrogen fertilization; and three years of cotton-winter legumes-corn and rye-soybeans double-cropped. Ten years of observations on deviations from target income were used to identify optimal sustainable rotation(s). Study results suggest that diversification in rotations, as well as in crops, results in the least risk for a given level of target income.Risk and Uncertainty,

Susceptibility of Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Colony Areas to Southern Pine Beetle Infestation in East Texas

Seven red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) colonies and stands within a one-quarter mile radius were hazard-rated for susceptibility to the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus Frontalis Zimm.). Individual colonies generally were ranked low to moderate hazard using the Texas Hazard system and moderate hazard using the National Forest Risk system. Within one quarter mile of the colonies, 28% of the stands were low hazard, 25% moderate, 0.3% high and 7.5% extreme with Texas Hazard. Four percent were low hazard, 52% moderate, and 6% high with National Forest Risk. Moderate to extreme hazard stands within one-quarter mile of the colonies could increase the probability of beetle infestation in these areas, thus threatening foraging areas and individual colony trees. Documented bark beetles activity within colonies did not correspond directly with hazard ratings, suggesting that development of a different model may be needed for these RCW colonies to incorporate stand characteristics disturbances, cavity tree condition, and other bark beetle species

Micromanipulation of InP lasers with optoelectronic tweezers for integration on a photonic platform

The integration of light sources on a photonic platform is a key aspect of the fabrication of self-contained photonic circuits with a small footprint that does not have a definitive solution yet. Several approaches are being actively researched for this purpose. In this work we propose optoelectronic tweezers for the manipulation and integration of light sources on a photonic platform and report the positional and angular accuracy of the micromanipulation of standard Fabry-Pérot InP semiconductor laser die. These lasers are over three orders of magnitude bigger in volume than any previously assembled with optofluidic techniques and the fact that they are industry standard lasers makes them significantly more useful than previously assembled microdisk lasers. We measure the accuracy to be 2.5 ± 1.4 µm and 1.4 ± 0.4° and conclude that optoelectronic tweezers are a promising technique for the micromanipulation and integration of optoelectronic components in general and semiconductor lasers in particular

Validity and repeatability of a simple index derived from the short physical activity questionnaire used in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study

Original article can be found at: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=PHN Copyright The Authors. DOI: 10.1079/PHN2002439Peer reviewe

Three essays on livestock biosecurity and traceability

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Agricultural EconomicsGlynn T. TonsorChapter 1: The Effects of Production Contracts on Biosecurity Adoption by United States Hog Producers. Production contracts play an important role in U.S. livestock production. As their use has grown, so has the need to understand their influence on production practices. Understanding the link between production contracts and health management practices, for example, is crucial to policies and analysis of the preparation for, and potential consequences of larger scale animal disease outbreaks in the United States. The benefits and costs, as well as tolerance for disease risks, are likely different among independent producers and operations utilizing some form of production contracts. Using results from a 2017 survey of U.S. hog producers, we estimate the effects of production contract use on adoption of enhanced biosecurity practices. The main result of this chapter is that contracting producers are more likely to adopt biosecurity. We find evidence that the effect of production contracts is heterogeneous across enterprise types. Chapter 2: The Market for Traceability with Applications to U.S. Feeder Cattle. For voluntary traceability programs, a key interest for program designers and policymakers is how to encourage participation. We contend that participating in voluntary traceability can be viewed as a product characteristic, and thus serves as a source of product differentiation. We study the implicit market for traceability systems for the first known time. In our empirical example, we use stated choice experiments to link feeder cattle sellers and buyers through premiums and discounts for cattle traceability systems. Using results from discrete choice models, we simulate changes in traceability supply and demand in response to prices and policies. We find that cost-share policies might be an effective way of encouraging participation for feeder cattle sellers and could serve as an alternative to mandating traceability. Chapter 3: Cow-Calf Producer Willingness to Report Disease: A Test of Adverse Selection. Animal health agencies' efforts to prevent and control foreign animal disease outbreaks depend on, among other factors, timely livestock producer self-reporting of disease suspicions. Adverse selection applies to disease reporting because livestock producers have private information about their disease status. Policymakers want to know how to set policy variables such that producers reveal private information about disease status, early, before the disease spreads. In this chapter, we study the effects of disease prevalence and indemnity payments on cow-calf producer willingness to report foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) suspicions. A novel test of adverse selection arises because we can determine how the rate of disease reporting adjusts to policy variables evaluated at different disease prevalence rates. Producers that report FMD suspicions do so early such that the effects of policy variables diminish at high prevalence rates

Response to “Comment on ‘Real‐time B‐mode ultrasound quality control test procedures’ ” [Med Phys. 25, 1547–1551 (1998)]

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134941/1/mp8333.pd