The Political and Economic Factors Affecting the U.S. Sugar Subsidy Program

This paper explores the U.S. sugar subsidy programs; specifically why an increasing amount of sugar subsidy is being allocated to a decreasing number of domestic sugar growers. Traditional neoclassical economic theory fails to capture the autonomous nature of political institutions in affecting the policy making decision regarding the sugar program. Douglass North offers an analytic framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies. Two empirical models test the impact economic and political variables have on the level of sugar loans allocated to sugar growers. The House and Senate Agriculture Committees, and the number of democrats in the chambers of Congress contribute to explaining the variance of sugar subsidy loans. The Senate committee in particular emerges as statistically significant

The Economic and Political Factors Affecting the U.S. Sugar Subsidy Program

Sugar growers continue to benefit from favorable economic conditions provided by the U.S. government. Yet empirical data reveal a decrease in the aggregate support for sugar legislation in recent years. In 1978, there were 9,187 full or part owners of sugar cane and sugar beet farms, compared to 7,799 farms in 1987. The level of sugar subsidy allocated to the farmers, however, has increased and even favored certain sugar growers disproportionately over others. Such empirical findings suggests that politics, as much as economics, affect the level of sugar subsidy. This paper examines why an increasingly smaller number of sugar farmers receive a steadily larger government subsidy

Proposition 187

Is it fair that the federal government mandates states to provide services to illegal imrnigrants--at the expense of state taxpayers...

Master of Science

thesisThis study investigated the relationship between a cepstral/spectral index of dysphonia severity (i.e., the CSID) and listener severity ratings of disordered voices. To assess the value of the CSID as a potential objective treatment outcomes tool, pre- and posttreatment samples of continuous speech and sustained vowel /a/ productions were elicited from 112 patients (with varying degrees of dysphonia) from six diagnostic categories: (1) unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP), (2) adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD), (3) primary muscle tension dysphonia (PMTD), (4) benign vocal fold lesions (BVFL), (5) presbylaryngis, and (6) mutational falsetto. Perceptual ratings of dysphonia severity in continuous speech were compared to acoustically-derived severity estimates using a three factor CSID model consisting of the cepstral peak prominence (CPP), the ratio of low-to-high spectral energy, and its standard deviation. A five factor CSID model incorporating all acoustic variables as well as gender and the CPP standard deviation was used to estimate severity in sustained vowel samples. Results showed strong relationships between perceptual and acoustic estimates in dysphonia severity in connected speech (r = 0.72, p < 0.0001) and sustained vowels (r = 0.836, p < 0.0001). A strong relationship between the perceived and predicted change in dysphonia severity from pre- to posttreatment was also observed for connected speech (r = 0.77, p < 0.001) and sustained vowels (r = 0.81, p < 0.0001). Spectrum effects were also examined, and overall severity (mild, moderate, or severe) did not influence the relationship between perceived and estimated severity ratings in connected speech (F[1, 2] = 0.58, p = 0.56); however, dysphonia severity did influence the relationship in sustained vowels (F[1, 2] = 6.22, p = 0.002). In general, the results confirm a robust relationship between listener perceived and acoustically-derived estimates of severity within the contexts of connected speech and sustained vowels across diverse diagnostic categories and varying degrees of dysphonia severity. As such, the CSID shows considerable promise an objective treatment outcomes measure

Review of \u3ci\u3eTaming the Land: The Lost Postcard Photographs of the Texas High Plains\u3c/i\u3e by John Miller Morris

The advent of the real photographic postcard (RPPC) and the burgeoning growth in the early twentieth century of the Texas Panhandle area of the southern Great Plains coincide. More than 100,000 optimists spilled into the region after 1906. The frontier receded as farmsteads grew around railroad towns. The era also witnessed a surge in popularity of the real photographic postcard from 1906 into the 1920s, mailed by the tens of thousands and collected in albums documenting the region. As the population grew, photographers increasingly worked for land developers making images of farmland and also of excursionists traveling to see the area. The new medium was also employed to transform the perception of the Plains as desert to a dream of agrarian abundance

Identity development among adolescent males enrolled in a middle school general music program

The purpose of this study was to better understand the musical engagement of adolescent males enrolled in a general music class in order to learn what factors of the environment adolescent males perceive as impactful in the development of their musical identities (cf. MacDonald, Marshall, & Miell, 2002). Secondly, because researchers have posited that informal music contexts are pivotal in the development of adolescent identity and that connections can be drawn between formal and informal settings (cf. Green, 2008; Hargreaves & Marshall, 2003), I wanted to learn what role, if any, in-class connections to students’ informal musical contexts might play in the engagement of their musical identities. The following research questions were explored: In what ways, if any, are adolescent males’ musical identities engaged in the general music classroom? What role, if any, do in-class connections to informal contexts play in this engagement? Musical identities were understood through a social psychological perspective encompassing identities in music and music in identities: the socio-cultural musical roles individuals fill and the ways in which music serves other, non-musical aspects of an individual’s identity. An all-male school in the Midwest United States served as the research site. Participants were adolescent males, ages 11 through 14, enrolled in a compulsory general music program. I collected data via questionnaire, focus group interview, individual interviews, video reflections, researcher memos, and artifacts. Four factors emerged as key in the engagement of participants’ musical identities in the music classroom: 1) freedom in decision-making, 2) belonging to the classroom community, 3) distinction among peers, and 4) exposure to the other. Participants reported they could more fully engage their musical identities when each of these factors were present in the classroom, with the exception of distinction, which at times helped and at times hindered the expression of particular self-concepts. In-class connections to informal contexts were revealed in the roles of both freedom and exposure to the other in students’ engagement of musical identities. I concluded by discussing the implications of these findings as they relate to teaching, program advocacy, and recommendations for future research