Some aspects of co-operation in farming: with special reference to a group of arable farms in the East of Scotland

The section of British Agriculture for which farm amalgamation may be an economic necessity is examined, and the incidence of and rate of farm amalgamation since 1875 is demonstrated. It is suggested that the effects of farm amalgamation are similar to the effects of a change in the scale of farming and evidence relating to the economies and diseconomies of scale is examined. Action by official bodies to reduce the number of uneconomic farms, and by farmers to obtain the advantages of larger size without increasing the size of farms, is discussed.The farms used in the investigation, the area in which they lie, the climate and the type of farming, are described. The general method of investigation and the requirements to be met in constructing the planning model are discussed, and the effect on farm planning solutions of ignoring factors which in practice affect decision making, is demonstrated.Work on improving the available linear programming program to obtain the required output, to improve data input and to obtain greater speed and flexibility in computation, is described. The construction of the matrix comprising the planning model is outlined, with fuller discussion of three areas - the representation of working capital, regular labour and farm machinery selection. The calculation of labour supply involved an assessment of the effect of weather on the time available for farm work. The method of assessment, and the effect of applying the resulting criteria to meteorological data recorded in three areas, have been described in published articles which are reproduced as appendices.The results of the investigation are presented with the intention of providing two types of comparison - the effect on the individual farms of various planning assumptions, and the effect on the 2811 acre block of land of farming it as six units or as one farm, again subject to various assumptions. Comparisons are shown to indicate the effects of introducing dairying, of having limited or unlimited availability of capital, and of using high output equipment on the amalgamated unit.The possible effect of the current system of taxation on the gross profits derived from the individual farms and from the amalgamated unit is investigated, in order to provide a comparison of the net spendable incomes available to individuals.It is concluded that the minimum cross profit improvement obtainable by amalgamation of these particular farms is insufficient to offset the taxation disadvantage to which the single unit business could be subject, but that in practice the gross profit advantage of amalgamation would depend upon the farming and business ability of the people, involved and their command of capital, both as individuals .and as a group. Possible managerial and business expansion advantages, and social advantages and disadvantages, are outlined

Teachers' perception of the culture of physical education: Investigating the silences at Hana Primary School

The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' perceptions of physical education classes in an urban Korean primary school. Furthermore, this study tried to interpret how teachers' beliefs were reflected in their teaching. One primary school with seventeen teachers was selected as the site for a case study. Data were collected by participant observation, informal interviews and field notes. Inductive analysis was used to organise the data throughout the research process. Three factors emerged that characterised teachers' perceptions of physical education: the low status of the physical education program, teachers' disengagement with the subject matter, and their lack of pedagogical knowledge. It was concluded that primary school teachers have a very limited view of their responsibilities for implementing physical education programs and seem to be part of the sustainable silences ascribed to physical education classes in primary schools

LENS® and SFF: Enabling Technologies for Optimized Structures

Optimized, lightweight, high-strength structures are needed in many applications from aerospace to automotive. In pursuit of such structures, there have been proposed analytical solutions and some specialized FEA solutions for specific structures such as automobile frames. However, generalized 3D optimization methods have been unavailable for use by most designers. Moreover, in the cases where optimized structural solutions are available, they are often hollow, curving, thin wall structures that cannot be fabricated by conventional manufacturing methods. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Rhode Island teamed to solve these problems. The team has been pursuing two methods of optimizing models for generalized loading conditions, and also has been investigating the methods needed to fabricate these structures using Laser Engineered Net Shaping™ (LENS®) and other rapid prototyping methods. These solid freeform fabrication (SFF) methods offer the unique ability to make hollow, high aspect ratio features out of many materials. The manufacturing development required for LENS to make these complex structures has included the addition of rotational axes to Sandia’s LENS machine bringing the total to 5 controlled axes. The additional axes have required new efforts in process planning. Several of the unique structures that are only now possible through the use of SFF technology are shown as part of the discussion of this exciting new application for SFF.Mechanical Engineerin

A systematic review of interventions in primary care to improve health literacy for chronic disease behavioral risk factors

Background: To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions used in primary care to improve health literacy for change in smoking, nutrition, alcohol, physical activity and weight (SNAPW). Methods: A systematic review of intervention studies that included outcomes for health literacy and SNAPW behavioral risk behaviors implemented in primary care settings. We searched the Cochrane Library, Johanna Briggs Institute, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Psychinfo, Web of Science, Scopus, APAIS, Australasian Medical Index, Google Scholar, Community of Science and four targeted journals (Patient Education and Counseling, Health Education and Behaviour, American Journal of Preventive Medicine and Preventive Medicine). Study inclusion criteria: Adults over 18 years; undertaken in a primary care setting within an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country; interventions with at least one measure of health literacy and promoting positive change in smoking, nutrition, alcohol, physical activity and/or weight; measure at least one outcome associated with health literacy and report a SNAPW outcome; and experimental and quasi-experimental studies, cohort, observational and controlled and non-controlled before and after studies. Papers were assessed and screened by two researchers (JT, AW) and uncertain or excluded studies were reviewed by a third researcher (MH). Data were extracted from the included studies by two researchers (JT, AW). Effectiveness studies were quality assessed. A typology of interventions was thematically derived from the studies by grouping the SNAPW interventions into six broad categories: individual motivational interviewing and counseling; group education; multiple interventions (combination of interventions); written materials; telephone coaching or counseling; and computer or web based interventions. Interventions were classified by intensity of contact with the subjects (High ≥ 8 points of contact/hours; Moderate \u3e3 and \u3c8; Low ≤ 3 points of contact hours) and setting (primary health, community or other). Studies were analyzed by intervention category and whether significant positive changes in SNAPW and health literacy outcomes were reported. Results: 52 studies were included. Many different intervention types and settings were associated with change in health literacy (73% of all studies) and change in SNAPW (75% of studies). More low intensity interventions reported significant positive outcomes for SNAPW (43% of studies) compared with high intensity interventions (33% of studies). More interventions in primary health care than the community were effective in supporting smoking cessation whereas the reverse was true for diet and physical activity interventions. Conclusion: Group and individual interventions of varying intensity in primary health care and community settings are useful in supporting sustained change in health literacy for change in behavioral risk factors. Certain aspects of risk behavior may be better handled in clinical settings while others more effectively in the community. Our findings have implications for the design of programs

Potential maps, Hardy spaces, and tent spaces on special Lipschitz domains

Suppose that Ω is the open region in ℝn above a Lipschitz graph and let d denote the exterior derivative on ℝn. We construct a convolution operator T which preserves support in Ω is smoothing of order 1 on the homogeneous function spaces, and is a potential map in the sense that dT is the identity on spaces of exact forms with support in Ω. Thus if f is exact and supported in Ω then there is a potential u, given by u = T f, of optimal regularity and supported in Ω, such that du = f. This has implications for the regularity in homogeneous function spaces of the de Rham complex on Ω with or without boundary conditions. The operator T is used to obtain an atomic characterisation of Hardy spaces Hp of exact forms with support in Ω when n/(n + 1) < p ≤ 1. This is done via an atomic decomposition of functions in the tent spaces Tp(ℝn _ ℝ+) with support in a tent T(Ω) as a sum of atoms with support away from the boundary of Ω . This new decomposition of tent spaces is useful, even for scalar valued functions