Cost and Efficiency in Alberta Dairy Production

This study investigates the relationships between farm size, milk yield, cost of production, and technical efficiency in the Alberta dairy industry. Estimates of a stochastic production frontier are obtained with two alternative methods; an iterative "average frontier: (AF) procedure and a maximum-likelihood composed error (CE) term method. An index of technical efficiency is calculated for every herd in the sample, with the AF method resulting in an average efficiency ratio of 85 percent, and the CE method producing an average efficiency ratio of 83 percent. Regressions of production cost on milk output, herd size, and efficiency are used to test for the effects of size economies, yield economies, and technical efficiency on production cost. These results suggest that herd expansion, on average, would lower the average cost of production throughout the province. Romain and Lambert use a similar method in a study of Quebec and Ontario dairy farmers which shows a limited potential to exploit economies of herd size. While not a formal test of the similarity of the two industries, the results of this study indicate a significant difference between the optimal structure of dairy production in Alberta and Quebec. Such regional differences will have important implications for the possible reapportionment of the national milk market, whether by regulatory or free-market mechanisms.Livestock Production/Industries,

Economic Performance in Alberta Dairy: An Application of the Mimic Model

Dairy production at the farm-level is undergoing a rapid transformation in preparation for more open competition in the future. However, the means by which dairy farms can best improve their economic performance is of some question. Using measures of allocative, technical, and overall efficiency as indicators of a latent "performance" variable, this study specifies and estimates a multiple-indicator, multiple-cause (MIMIC) model of Alberta dairy production. Variables thought to "cause" performance include herd size, milk yield, breeding and veterinary expense, capital-to-labour ratio, concentrate-to-forage ratio, and operator experience. The results show that gains in performance may be made through increased capital intensity, greater spending on breeding and herd health, and, albeit marginally, through increased milk yields. Despite current trends toward larger dairy herds, this may not be a fruitful avenue for future improvements in dairy efficiency.Livestock Production/Industries,

Automated Problem-Specific Nuclide-Transition Selection for Reduced Order Modeling

A method for automated library reduction for the nuclide generation code Origen was developed for increased computational efficiency. The requirement for a reduced burnup chain micro-depletion code has been identified in many code frameworks in fuel cycles, neutronics, and nonproliferation where the increased accuracy of a micro-depletion code with hundreds, if not thousands, of nuclides is needed. These large library inventories result in relatively large memory requirements and runtimes that become burdensome within codes that require many depletion zones and/or depletion substeps per time step. However, the tracked nuclides do not equally contribute to the problem, and therefore a subset of the total nuclides can be removed from the system with little loss of accuracy. To do this in a generalized manner the application for the libraries need to be considered. To this end a number of metrics are available to measure library accuracy for a given problem, such as depletion inventory, total activity, gamma dose, decay heat, and individual nuclide inventory. Using these metrics, and their sensitivities to nuclide inventories, it is possible to reduce Origen\u27s full inventory of thousands of nuclides to several hundred nuclides while only affecting the metric of interest by less than 1 pcm (per cent mille or 10^(-5)). The method for this problem specific reduction relies on maintaining the physical meaning of the transition system to the highest degree reasonable. This means maintaining the integrity of the subsystem in relation to its behavior within the full system. Though a number of methods to achieve this have been studied, with varying degrees of success, the most successful method is one that takes a layered approach. This method makes an estimate of the final system through the cutting planes method then makes successive corrections to that estimate in each layer to account for the physical behavior of truncating the transition system that is not present in standard system problems

AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES AND RISK MANAGEMENT:IMPACT ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Agricultural cooperatives, like all agribusinesses, operate in an inherently risky environment. Many risk management tools exist, but agricultural cooperatives have been slow to adopt sophisticated risk management practices. Using simulation methods, this paper presents insight into how both traditional and innovative risk management practices effect the distribution of key financial variables for agricultural cooperatives.Agribusiness,

RISK MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION

While not ignoring risk, agricultural cooperatives tend to accommodate risk through the holding of internal capital reserves rather than engage in active risk management. A lack of information regarding the risk, returns, and the effect on cooperative financial performance of both traditional and innovative risk management strategies is likely a constraint to the adoption of active risk management by cooperatives. In this research, we examine the influence of alternative risk management strategies on cooperative financial performance, namely the return on assets (ROA) of grain merchandising cooperatives of various sizes. Strategies include traditional exchange traded futures and options strategies, an over-the-counter revenue swap, throughput insurance, and combinations of price and throughput strategies. Each of these strategies, for small, medium, and large size firms, are evaluated using a range of procedures including techniques which rely on mean-variance efficiency as well as evaluation procedures which help determine the ability of a strategy to mitigate downside risk. The results of the simulation exercise provide considerable support for the routine buying of at-the-money put options in setting a commodity floor price. The results also support the use, and perhaps the development, of insurance on cooperative throughput if the insurance product is used in conjunction with a price risk management strategy, in essence providing a hedge against downfalls in revenue. Over-the-counter revenue swaps, while intuitively appealing, did not perform well on average relative to more traditional exchange traded products. This result is especially important given the added counter party risk associated with such contracts. However, in some cases, the revenue swap, as well routine hedging with futures, performed better under a Value-at-Risk evaluation criteria than with a mean-variance criteria. Hence, it is important for cooperative managers to consider these results in the context of the risk management goals.Agribusiness,

QUANTITATIVE THREE DIMENSIONAL ELASTICITY IMAGING

Neoplastic tissue is typically highly vascularized, contains abnormal concentrations of extracellular proteins (e.g. collagen, proteoglycans) and has a high interstitial fluid pres- sure compared to most normal tissues. These changes result in an overall stiffening typical of most solid tumors. Elasticity Imaging (EI) is a technique which uses imaging systems to measure relative tissue deformation and thus noninvasively infer its mechanical stiffness. Stiffness is recovered from measured deformation by using an appropriate mathematical model and solving an inverse problem. The integration of EI with existing imaging modal- ities can improve their diagnostic and research capabilities. The aim of this work is to develop and evaluate techniques to image and quantify the mechanical properties of soft tissues in three dimensions (3D). To that end, this thesis presents and validates a method by which three dimensional ultrasound images can be used to image and quantify the shear modulus distribution of tissue mimicking phantoms. This work is presented to motivate and justify the use of this elasticity imaging technique in a clinical breast cancer screening study. The imaging methodologies discussed are intended to improve the specificity of mammography practices in general. During the development of these techniques, several issues concerning the accuracy and uniqueness of the result were elucidated. Two new algorithms for 3D EI are designed and characterized in this thesis. The first provides three dimensional motion estimates from ultrasound images of the deforming ma- terial. The novel features include finite element interpolation of the displacement field, inclusion of prior information and the ability to enforce physical constraints. The roles of regularization, mesh resolution and an incompressibility constraint on the accuracy of the measured deformation is quantified. The estimated signal to noise ratio of the measured displacement fields are approximately 1800, 21 and 41 for the axial, lateral and eleva- tional components, respectively. The second algorithm recovers the shear elastic modulus distribution of the deforming material by efficiently solving the three dimensional inverse problem as an optimization problem. This method utilizes finite element interpolations, the adjoint method to evaluate the gradient and a quasi-Newton BFGS method for optimiza- tion. Its novel features include the use of the adjoint method and TVD regularization with piece-wise constant interpolation. A source of non-uniqueness in this inverse problem is identified theoretically, demonstrated computationally, explained physically and overcome practically. Both algorithms were test on ultrasound data of independently characterized tissue mimicking phantoms. The recovered elastic modulus was in all cases within 35% of the reference elastic contrast. Finally, the preliminary application of these techniques to tomosynthesis images showed the feasiblity of imaging an elastic inclusion.CenSSIS, the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems, under the Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundation (award number EEC-9986821

The role of cognitive functions in the hearing of speech-in-noise and the role of auditory and cognitive training in individuals’ speech-in-noise performance

The most consistent determinant for any variation in speech-in-noise performance between individuals is their own audibility. There is, however, the potential that cognitive functions support listening when situations are challenging, such as when speech is being listened to in background noise. This research explores which cognitive functions support listening when speech is degraded in different manners, with working memory, speed of information processing, response latency and control of inhibition all indicating significant relationships. Based on these findings, both cognitive and auditory training was employed with participants to establish if this could demonstrate any improvement in both on-task performance, such that the task itself improved, and additionally if training could lead to changes in performance of other closely related (near transfer) or more loosely related (far transfer) tasks. There was no convincing evidence that cognitive training involving inhibition control and processing speed could lead to improved listening performance. Potentially, as cognitive functions play a more minor role in speech-in-noise performance when compared to audibility, training of these cognitive functions may need a more significant training input to demonstrate any significant change in speech-in-noise performance. There was, however, evidence that targeted auditory training may offer some advantages and that far transfer gains appear to be achievable and are most evident when the training material is highly challenging. When the role of a commercial communication training package involving both auditory and cognitive exercises was explored it gave very limited evidence of any significant advantage for first time hearing aid users over normal acclimitisation. Areas for future research are discussed, particularly with a view to training package development. Further, there is a discussion on how effective rehabilitation may lead to improved communication and the potential social and mental well-being that improved communication may bring

Adapting to Challenging Leadership in Academia: A Mindfulness Approach

Participants will describe and evaluate effective and supportive leadership (e.g., servant and mindfulness leadership) vs. ineffective and abusive leadership styles and identify positive adaptations and survival techniques promoting higher quality employment and greater contentment. Throughout the presentation, mindfulness principles and techniques will be incorporated and practiced

Basket Cases and Breadbaskets: Sacred Rice and Agricultural Development in Postcolonial Africa

Author's final manuscript.Based on ethnographic research among rural Diola in Guinea-Bissau, I provide a broad view of the history and interpenetration of rice in social, political, religious, and ecological domains, while chronicling the current difficulties of residents in this region who are no longer able to grown enough of it. These farmers’ experiences are unfolding at a time of revitalized attention to agricultural development in Africa, particularly under the auspices of the New Green Revolution for Africa. I examine the premises that constitute the resuscitated effort to address the plight of African farmers. I argue that the totalizing quality of rice in Diola and other rice-cultivating societies requires a development approach that takes into account dimensions of agrarian life not encapsulated by the high- modernist and anti-political orientation of the New Green Revolution for Africa