Performance in the Food Retailing Segment of the Agri-Food Chain

This paper sets out to measure the performance of the food-retailing sector of the Canadian economy for the period 1990 to 1998. This study was undertaken to provide a baseline study for the sector due to the major changes that took place after 1998. A second driver was to provide recent information on the sector as the last study of this type was conducted in the 1970s. The paper uses profitability as a measure of performance. The measure was chosen because most firms make business decisions based on their profitability, and profitability provides an indication on the direction of employment, investment, and growth of a sector. We find that that food retailing performed better than both non-food retailers and the general economy over the 1990s. While large retailers performed twice as well as small and medium retailers the latter categories performed better than their non-food counterparts over the period.Agribusiness,

Integration of Administrative Data With Survey and Census Data

Statistical systems are a consequence of evolution and the level of data integration that is achieved is often an indication of the degree of system development. Almost all national statistical agencies in the world integrate administrative data with their survey and census information to some degree in order to complement, supplement or replace survey information or to assist with frame maintenance. This paper reconstructs the development and evolution of the Canadian agricultural statistical system as it relates to the expanding and increasingly important role of administrative data. The degree to which administrative data are integrated depends on a number of factors, the most important being: (1) the degree of maturity of the country's statistical system, (2) the quality and the amount of information available from the government's administrative and regulatory programs, (3) well-trained and experienced staff, (4) funding, and (5) co-operation among government agencies. Most countries appear to have gone through an evolutionary process in establishing their agricultural statistical system and most systems are developed with an internal capacity for renewal and adjustment. This allows them to respond to changing conditions and needs and to remain relevant. The actual route that is followed, however, is highly dependent on the amount of resources available for the program, the availability of experienced professionals to develop and maintain the system and the statistical toolbox that they are able to use.Agricultural and Food Policy,

TRADE REMEDY LAWS AND NAFTA AGRICULTURAL TRADE

Trade remedy law is viewed as a major vehicle for protection in U.S. agriculture. The objective of this paper is to summarize the use of trade remedy law by U.S. agriculture and to highlight examples of where the use of these laws conflicts with free trade agreements such as NAFTA. Empirical evidence is presented of the effects of U.S. trade remedy laws on agricultural imports. We find evidence that is consistent with trade diversion on positive rulings and an "investigation effect" on negative rulings.International Relations/Trade,

TRADE REMEDY LAWS AND NAFTA AGRICULTURAL TRADE

Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

SOCIAL CLASSIFICATION AND FOLKSONOMY IN ART MUSEUMS: EARLY DATA FROM THE STEVE.MUSEUM TAGGER PROTOTYPE

The collections of art museums have been assembled over hundreds of years and described, organized and classified according to traditions of art historical research and discourse. Art museums, in their role as curators and interpreters of the cultural record, have developed standards for the description of works of art (such as the Categories for the Description of Works of Art, CDWA) that emphasize the physical nature of art as artefact, the authorial role of the creator, the temporal and cultural context of creation and ownership, and the scholarly significance of the work over time. Collections managers have recorded conservation, exhibition, loan and publication history, along with significant volumes of internal documentation of acquisition and storage, that support the custody and care of artefacts of significant cultural value. But the systems of documentation and classification that support the professional discourse of art history and the management of museum collections have failed to represent the interests, perspectives or passions of those who visit [use?] museum collections, both on-site and online. As museums move to reflect the breadth of their audiences and the diversity of their perspectives, so must museum documentation change to reflect concerns other than the traditionally art historical and museological. Social tagging offers a direct way for museums to learn what museum-goers see in works of art, what they judge as significant and where they find or make meaning. Within the steve collaboration(http://www.steve.museum), a group of art museums is collectively exploring the role of social tagging and studying the resulting folksonomy (Bearman and Trant, 2005; Chun, Cherry, Hiwiller, Trant, and Wyman, 2006; Trant and Wyman, 2006). Analysis of terms collected in the prototype steve tagger suggests that social tagging of art museum objects can in fact augment museum documentation with unique access points not found in traditional cataloguing. Terms collected through social tagging tools are being compared to museum documentation, to establish the actual contributions made by naïve users to the accessibility of art museum collections and to see if social classification provides a way to bridge the semantic gap between art historians and art museums’ publics

The Krug Brothers' Furniture Factory, Chesley, Ontario: Industrialization and Furniture Design in the Late Nineteenth Century

The bedroom suites of the Krug Brothers' Furniture Factory of Chesley, Ontario, provide an excellent example of the impact of industrialization on furniture forms. To produce an illusion of variety, a basic form was slightly altered by adding non-structural ornamentation, or its appearance was changed by using different woods or finishes. These superficial changes made possible the production of a wide range of models and "styles" without sacrificing the economics of large-scale production. Industrialized manufacturing methods ensured the success of the Krug Brothers'Furniture Factory; the design of their products satisfied the demands of the consumer within the constraints of the methods of production. Résumé Les mobiliers de chambre de la fabrique de meubles des frères Krug à Chesley (Ontario) nour fournissent un excellent exemple de l'influence de l'industrialisation sur la forme des meubles. Afin de créer une illusion de variété, on ajoutait à la forme de base des ornements non structuraux qui en modifiaient légèrement l'apparence, ou encore on utilisait des essences de bois ou des finis différents. Grâce à ces modifications superficielles, on pouvait produire une vaste gamme de modèles et de styles sans devoir renoncer pour autant aux économies de production à grande échelle. Des méthodes de fabrication indus-trialisées ont fait le succès de l'entreprise des frères Krug. La conception de leurs produits répondait aux attentes de leur clientèle malgré les contraintes inhérentes aux méthodes de production

COMPARISON OF SALICYL HYDROXAMATE ADSORPTION ON RARE EARTH PHOSPHATES TO OXIDES AND CARBONATES

Adsorption behavior of the anionic collector salicyl hydroxamic acid (SHA) on a group of selected rare earth phosphates (REPs) was studied by means of experimental methods and modeling software. These REPs were then compared to rare earth carbonates (RECs) and rare earth oxides (REOs) to develop a trend. A suite of rare earth elements (REE) were studied that included light (LREE) and middle (MREE). Results for heavy (HREE) were inferred. Synthetic phosphate, oxide and carbonate powders of the rare earth elements Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce), Europium (Eu) and Dysprosium (Dy) were tested for these studies. Dysprosium phosphate was the only REE that was synthesized in the lab for further testing. The studies were conducted at a range of pH levels to mimic commercial flotation processes and to optimize recovery parameters involving the collector SHA. Differences in adsorption behavior between LREE, and MREE as well as HREE are attributed to solution chemistry, coordination number and REEionic diameter. SHA adsorption follows an ion-exchange process that leads to chemisorbed or surface precipitated states, depending on atomic spacing and pH level. These effects are strongly attributed to lanthanide contraction

HOPE Scholarship Status of Students in a Large Entry-Level Course in Teacher Education

The current study examined the extent to which socioeconomic variables (SES), pre-college academic variables, pre-course collegiate variables, and in-course achievement variables predicted students\u27 probability of receiving and/or retaining the Helping Outstanding Students Educationally (HOPE) scholarship. The study was conducted in the Ed Psych 210 course (N = 181). Much of the data came from the University’s Registrar’s Office. Bivariate Logistic Regression was used in all phases of the analysis. The predictive potential of each subset of variables was first done for variables in combination and then for variables separately. Socioeconomic status (SES) measures and pre-college academic variable were used in predicting HOPE receipt. The strongest SES predictors of HOPE receipt were parental education level and the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunch in a student’s school district. For the pre-college academic variables, HS GPA was a significantly stronger predictor of HOPE receipt than was ACT. When the SES variables were considered, both free and reduced lunch and poverty level were significantly related to scholarship loss. Although HS GPA remained a stronger predictor of HOPE retention than ACT scores, that difference was not significant. The only pre-course collegiate predictor significantly related to HOPE loss was total credit hours completed. None of the collegiate in-course variables, when considered together, proved to be a significantly stronger predictor of HOPE retention than the other in-course variables. This finding was a function of high inter-correlations between most in-course variables. When the predictive potential of the in-course variables was considered separately, the final course grade was the strongest predictor of HOPE retention. Nonetheless, all but one of the course factors on which the final grade is based also significantly contributed to HOPE retention. When the top predictors from each subset model were examined together, final course grade was the strongest predictor of HOPE retention. In fact, final grade was a significantly stronger predictor of HOPE retention than overall collegiate GPA. This pattern suggests that the academic requirements in the Ed Psych 210 course closely matched the cognitive and study skills required to perform generally well in the course and retain the HOPE scholarship

The Compound Cryogenic Distribution Line for the LHC: Status and Prospects

After a pre-series phase qualifying the design of three European firms, CERN adjudicated end of 2001 one contract for the manufacturing and installation of the cryogenic distribution line (QRL) for the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). Each of the eight ~3.2 km QRL sectors is feeding helium at different temperatures and pressures to the local cooling loops of the strings of superconducting magnets operating in superfluid helium below 2 K. With an overall length of 25.8 km the QRL has a very critical cost to performance ratio. We present a project overview describing all phases, status and schedule