An Analysis of McLean County, Illinois Farmers' Perceptions of Genetically Modified Crops

McLean County, Illinois farmers were surveyed in order to explore and analyze their perceptions of genetically modified crops and their genetically modified cropping decisions. Questionnaires were mailed to 400 randomly selected farmers, and 156 were returned. The 134 respondents who reported that they planned to plant crops in 2003 were asked to provide information about gender, age, education, and number of tillable acres farmed. Respondents were also asked if they had previously planted genetically modified crops and if they planned to plant either genetically modified corn or genetically modified soybeans in 2003. Finally, respondents were presented with 40 statements that pertained to biotechnology and genetically modified crops, and they were asked to record their level of agreement or disagreement with each statement using a 5-point Likert scale. Factor analysis was used to construct four factors from responses to the 40 statements that pertained to biotechnology and genetically modified crops. Items that loaded into the first factor indicated that McLean county farmers perceived agricultural biotechnology to be acceptable and beneficial, and their perspectives of biotechnology were much broader than the economic impacts on their own farms. The second factor revealed that McLean County farmers' cropping decisions had been affected to some degree by events such as the StarLink corn case that had cast a negative shadow over biotechnology. The third factor reflected direct benefits of genetically modified crops to farm operations, specifically higher yields and profits. The fourth factor included increased regulation of genetically modified crops in international markets and lower prices for genetically modified crops, which were potentially negative factors in the marketing of genetically modified crops. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to classify respondents according to past and planned experiences with genetically modified crops. When weighted factor scores from the four factors were used as independent variables, 100% of farmers who had planted genetically modified crops in the past, 98.4% of farmers who planned to plant genetically modified crops in 2003, and 100% of farmers who had not discontinued planting genetically modified crops were correctly classified. On the other hand, only 62.5% of farmers who had not planted genetically modified crops in the past, 60.0% of farmers who planned to not plant genetically modified crops in 2003, and 60.0% of farmers who had discontinued planting genetically modified crops were correctly classified. When the highest loading items from each of the four factors were used as independent variables, classification of farmers who had planted genetically modified crops in the past, farmers who planned to plant genetically modified crops in 2003, and farmers who had not discontinued planting genetically modified crops were little changed. However, correct classification of farmers who had not planted genetically modified crops in the past dropped from 62.5% to 50%, correct classification of farmers who had planned to not plant genetically modified crops in 2003 dropped from 60.0% to 20.0%, and correct classification of farmers who had discontinued planting genetically modified crops dropped from 60% to 0%. Additional information about farmers' age, education, and farm size increased the explanatory power of models only modestly. Inspection of regression coefficients revealed that increases in Factor 1 scores, which were dominated by positive aspects of biotechnology from a macro perspective, were associated with increases in odds ratios for having planted genetically modified crops in the past, having planned to plant genetically modified crops in 2003, and having continued planting genetically modified crops. Alternatively, increases in Factor 2 scores, which were dominated by negative perceptions of genetically modified seeds and crops, were associated with increases in odds ratios for having planned to not plant genetically modified crops in 2003, and having discontinued planting genetically modified crops. Factor 3 scores, which were dominated by micro benefits to farmers, were associated with increases in odds ratios for having planned to plant genetically modified crops in 2003, and having continued planting genetically modified crops. Results for two individual items that were significant, namely "as a consumer, I am satisfied with the benefits of biotechnology," and "restrictions on saving GM seed affect my GM crop planting decisions," were consistent with results for weighted factor scores. Greater agreement with the former statement was associated with increases in odds ratios for having planted genetically modified crops in the past, and having planned to plant genetically modified crops in 2003. Greater agreement with the latter statement was associated with increases in odds ratios for having planned to not plant genetically modified crops in 2003 and having discontinued planting genetically modified crops.biotechnology, genetically modified, corn, soybeans, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q16,

Examination of Factors Influencing Crop Insurance Purchase Decisions of Illinois Farmers

Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty,

Risk Management Strategies of Illinois Farmers

Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty,

Ethanol Marketing and Input Procurement Practices of U.S. Ethanol Producers: 2008 Survey Results

A mail survey was used to collect information about input procurement and ethanol and co-product marketing practices from 60 U.S. ethanol production facilities. Data were used to answer questions about the conduct or behavior of ethanol producers. It was anticipated that firm conduct or behavior would be fairly homogeneous because the ethanol industry was in Stage II of the industry life-cycle, and societal support for ethanol production resulted in large volumes of publicly available information about technology and markets. Age of facility, size of facility, and type of ownership jointly explained a limited number of differences in responses across ethanol facilities, thus supporting the concept of fairly homogeneous conduct or behavior.entry timing, ethanol, farmer-owned cooperatives, industry life-cycle, Agribusiness, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q11, Q42,

Crop Insurance Purchase Decisions: A Study of Northern Illinois Farmers

When selecting crop insurance coverage, farmers must consider multiple factors. The importance associated with factors that are considered when making crop insurance decisions varies among individual farmers. As available crop insurance options increase, selecting the appropriate coverage becomes a more complicated process. The prevalence of crop insurance participation and the existence of multiple selection criteria also makes understanding participant decisions more difficult. This paper provides findings of a mail survey conducted among farmers in northern Illinois. Mainly, this paper examines factors influencing farmers’ crop insurance purchase decisions, types of coverage purchased, and farmers’ risk attitudes.Crop Production/Industries,

Thinking About the Future Cognitive Remediation Therapy—What Works and Could We Do Better?

This article reviews progress in the development of effective cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) and its translational process. There is now enough evidence that cognitive difficulties experienced by people with schizophrenia can change and that the agenda for the next generation of studies is to increase these effects systematically through cognitive remediation. We examine the necessary steps and challenges of moving CRT to treatment dissemination. Theories which have been designed to explain the effects of cognitive remediation, are important but we conclude that they are not essential for dissemination which could progress in an empirical fashion. One apparent barrier is that cognitive remediation therapies look different on the surface. However, they still tend to use many of the same training procedures. The only important marker for outcome identified in the current studies seems to be the training emphasis. Some therapies concentrate on massed practice of cognitive functions, whereas others also use direct training of strategies. These may produce differing effects as noted in the most recent meta-analyses. We recommend attention to several critical issues in the next generation of empirical studies. These include developing more complex models of the therapy effects that take into account participant characteristics, specific and broad cognitive outcomes, the study design, as well as the specific and nonspecific effects of treatment, which have rarely been investigated in this empirical programme

Induction of carcinoembryonic antigen expression in a three-dimensional culture system

MIP-101 is a poorly differentiated human colon carcinoma cell line established from ascites that produces minimal amounts of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a 180 kDa glycoprotein tumor marker, and nonspecific cross-reacting antigen (NCA), a related protein that has 50 and 90 kDa isoforms, in vitro in monolayer culture. MIP-101 produces CEA when implanted into the peritoneum of nude mice but not when implanted into subcutaneous tissue. We tested whether MIP-101 cells may be induced to express CEA when cultured on microcarrier beads in three-dimensional cultures, either in static cultures as non-adherent aggregates or under dynamic conditions in a NASA-designed low shear stress bioreactor. MIP- 101 cells proliferated well under all three conditions and increased CEA and NCA production 3 - 4 fold when grown in three-dimensional cultures compared to MIP-101 cells growing logarithmically in monolayers. These results suggest that three-dimensional growth in vitro simulates tumor function in vivo and that three-dimensional growth by itself may enhance production of molecules that are associated with the metastatic process

NBS monograph

Report providing detail measurements and percentages in charts, using three statistical parameters, for amplitude-probability distributions of atmospheric radio noise

An Adaptive Framework for Selecting Environmental Monitoring Protocols to Support Ocean Renewable Energy Development

Offshore renewable energy developments (OREDs) are projected to become common in the United States over the next two decades. There are both a need and an opportunity to guide efforts to identify and track impacts to the marine ecosystem resulting from these installations. A monitoring framework and standardized protocols that can be applied to multiple types of ORED would streamline scientific study, management, and permitting at these sites. We propose an adaptive and reactive framework based on indicators of the likely changes to the marine ecosystem due to ORED. We developed decision trees to identify suites of impacts at two scales (demonstration and commercial) depending on energy (wind, tidal, and wave), structure (e.g., turbine), and foundation type (e.g., monopile). Impacts were categorized by ecosystem component (benthic habitat and resources, fish and fisheries, avian species, marine mammals, and sea turtles) and monitoring objectives were developed for each. We present a case study at a commercial-scale wind farm and develop a monitoring plan for this development that addresses both local and national environmental concerns. In addition, framework has provided a starting point for identifying global research needs and objectives for understanding of the potential effects of ORED on the marine environment

Dimension reduction for systems with slow relaxation

We develop reduced, stochastic models for high dimensional, dissipative dynamical systems that relax very slowly to equilibrium and can encode long term memory. We present a variety of empirical and first principles approaches for model reduction, and build a mathematical framework for analyzing the reduced models. We introduce the notions of universal and asymptotic filters to characterize `optimal' model reductions for sloppy linear models. We illustrate our methods by applying them to the practically important problem of modeling evaporation in oil spills.Comment: 48 Pages, 13 figures. Paper dedicated to the memory of Leo Kadanof