EMPLOYMENT HISTORY AND OFF-FARM EMPLOYMENT OF FARM OPERATORS

Employment history affects subsequent choices. Based on their original job choice, operators are divided into farmers and workers. Equations are estimated to determine their probabilities of working off-the-farm. Education increased the probability that workers work off-the-farm, whereas vocational training increases farmers' probability. The probability of working off-the-farm decreases as unearned income increases, and its impact on workers is larger than on farmers. An employed spouse increases the probability that farmers work off-the-farm, but has the opposite impact for workers. Employment density increases the probability that workers will work off-the-farm.Off-farm employment, Part-time farming, Small farms, Labor and Human Capital,

Orbital transfer vehicle concept definition and system analysis study, 1985. Volume 3: System and program trades

The key system and program trade studies performed to arrive at a preferred Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) system concept and evolutionary approach to the acquisition of the requisite capabilites is documented. These efforts were expanded to encompass a Space Transportation Architecture Study (STAS) mission model and recommended unmanned cargo vehicle. The most important factors affecting the results presented are the mission model requirements and selection criteria. The reason for conducting the OTV concept definition and system analyses study is to select a concept and acquisition approach that meets a delivery requirement reflected by the mission model

No Meeting of the Minds? Exploring CIO and Analyst Strategic Mental Models

Strategic IT alignment is seen in “an overwhelming body of literature” (Sabherwal, Sabherwal, Havakhor, & Steelman, 2019, p. 454) as the state of congruence between an organization’s IT strategy and the organizations business strategies. Strategy is the plan for getting from where you or your organization is to where it wants to be (Webb, 2019). Generally, organization management has the task of coming up with the strategy and the workers have the task of implementing that strategy. These two groups should agree on the current situation, what the strategy is, how to implement it, and the ultimate goals. When the two groups do not agree, implementing the strategy is difficult at best and impossible at worst. This paper explores how the mental models (Johnson-Laird, 2010) an organization’s strategy of IT personnel transition in the minds of management (Chief Information Officers) and workers (analysts). Revealed causal mapping brings these mental models to light so they can be compared, and where the mental models differ, action can be taken so management and workers are all on the same page

Knowledge Transfer Between Languages and Paradigms

As the field of Information Systems (IS) continues to advance, organizations will constantly be facing the challenge of paradigm shifts. This paper extends prior work on IS personnel training by emphasizing the retraining of IS professionals during a paradigm shift. The application of the Osgood (1949) transfer surface to the software development domain is proposed. A model is developed that defines the concepts of positive, negative and no skill transfer within the software development domain. This model demonstrates that the similarity of the stimuli and responses of the software development projects can predict the direction of the skill transfer. Anecdotal evidence of critical points in the model is provided to support applicability to the software development domain. This paper provides a theoretical beginning for work on paradigm shifts in the software development domain and highlights the importance of knowledge transfer in the face of technological change

Enabling Quantum Shift Learning: A Preliminary Study in Transforming Object Oriented Learning

Experienced structured programmers often find it difficult to learn object oriented techniques. At the root of this difficulty is the phenomenon of cognitive interference: a student’s prior knowledge actively interferes with the learning of the new skill. This paper describes cognitive interference, its impact on the learning of OO programming, and our method of circumventing this interference. A preliminary field experiment was conducted to test this method. The results indicate that through the use of quantum shift learning techniques the students were able to shift from structured thinking to object oriented thinking without cognitive interference

Form of Government Still Matters: Fostering Innovation in U.S. Municipal Governments

Using data on the adoption of e-government, reinventing government, and strategic practices, and the Nelson and Svara (2010) typology of municipal government form, the authors investigate the characteristics of municipal governments that are related to the implementation of innovative practices. The authors find that higher innovation rates are associated with council-manager governments—both with and without an elected mayor, higher population, greater growth, lower unemployment, sunbelt location, and higher population density. Controlling for all other variables, form of government (and variations within form) account for the greatest explanation of the adoption of innovative practices in municipalities. The authors conclude that form of government remains an important variable to consider when investigating local government management and performance

Adaptation of Models versus Variations in Form: Classifying Structures of City Government

A great deal of variability exists in American local government structures. It would be useful to analyze the differences in outcomes associated with different structures, but two factors stand in the way. First, there is no agreement about how to classify city governments. Second, many of the components used in existing classifications are inaccurately reported or missing in survey data. In this research note, a new classification system based on three easily determined components is developed and used to measure the current distribution of forms and variations in an expanded dataset that includes almost all cities over 10,000 in population

Agile Software Development Documentation and Maintainability

This research seeks to identify or create best documentation and maintenance practices for agile software development. Many organizations are attempting to use agile but problems persist with documentations and maintenance. This is a critical research issue since organizations spend, on average, 70 - 80% of the money in the software development life-cycle on maintenance (Jones 2000, Jones and Bonsignour 2011). This research is multi-method using qualitative interviews combined with qualitative surveys (Lee, 1991) to try and determine the documentation and maintainability of agile projects. The theoretical basis of this research is traditional software engineering, knowledge and expertise, and symbolism and semantics and it is being performed by a consortium of universities in the United State, Germany, and Brazil

Utilizing remote sensing of thematic mapper data to improve our understanding of estuarine processes and their influence on the productivity of estuarine-dependent fisheries

The land-water interface of coastal marshes may influence the production of estuarine-dependent fisheries more than the area of these marshes. To test this hypothesis, a spatial model was created to explore the dynamic relationship between marshland-water interface and level of disintegration in the decaying coastal marshes of Louisiana's Barataria, Terrebonne, and Timbalier basins. Calibrating the model with Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite imagery, a parabolic relationship was found between land-water interface and marsh disintegration. Aggregated simulation data suggest that interface in the study area will soon reach its maximum and then decline. A statistically significant positive linear relationship was found between brown shrimp catch and total interface length over the past 28 years. This relationship suggests that shrimp yields will decline when interface declines, possibly beginning about 1995