SUMMARIZING CURVATURE CONDITIONS FOR FLEXIBLE FUNCTIONAL FORMS

This article suggests that the two current approaches of summarizing curvature conditions for certain flexible function forms are neither intuitive nor robust to skewed distribution of exogenous variables. They also ignore the possible correlation pattern between exogenous variables. Arguing that the purpose of summarizing curvature condition is to provide either the changes of aggregated dependent variable with respect to a change of explanatory variable, or curvature conditions of a representative individual, this article proposes two methods to address this issue.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF CHINESE GRAIN PRODUCTION: A STOCHASTIC PRODUCTION FRONTIER APPROACH

This article examines technical efficiency of the Chinese grain sector using the framework of stochastic production frontier. The results reveal that: the marginal products of labor and fertilizer are much smaller than that of land; human capital and farm-level specialization have positive effect on efficiency, land fragmentation is detrimental to efficiency, and elder farmers are as efficient as younger farmers. We also examine the effects of size, mechanization and geographic location. Simulation results show that significant output gains can be obtained by eliminating land fragmentation, improving rural education and promoting specialization and mechanization.Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis,

Growth, body composition and metabolism at neonatal and adolescent life stages in low birth weight offspring

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Influence of birth weight, sex, age and adiposity on central leptin and insulin sensitivity in young growing sheep, as indicated by changes in voluntary food intake

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Central and peripheral insulin resistance in a large animal model of obesity

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Poet’s Room: Troubling Tolerance, Cultural Ruptures & The Dialogic Curriculum

Many high school communities across the United States grapple with issues of bullying, harassment and other forms of student conflict that are often the result of intolerance and misunderstandings across and among social identities (Griffin et. al., 2012). In an effort to rebuild tone and community, however, schools have focused predominantly on (1) addressing only antagonistic student behavior and (2) tolerance-based approaches that result in the superficial “choreography of civil speech” (Mayo. 2004). Both methods, in different ways, have struggled to meaningfully address many of the underlying issues responsible for intergroup and interpersonal conflict and the deterioration of community in schools (Dessel, 2010; Poteat & DiGiovanni, 2010). This qualitative case study examines the impact of an innovative arts-based curriculum designed to center the construction and performance of student “creative authoethnographies” in the classroom as a way of proactively working toward dialogue about identity and social analysis. Conducted over the course of a single school year at a high school in New York City, this research looks carefully at the experiences of seven students. Through close analysis of student interviews, archived student writing, curriculum documents, student surveys and other qualitative data, this work strives to articulate what courses such as these offer students, and how their presence in schools holds the potential to directly address issues of bullying and conflict across difference. Responding to the critical multiculturalist call (Banks, 1995, Morrell, 2007; Camangian, 2010) for a pedagogy that combines the successful but historically separate practices of autoethnography and the teaching of dialogue skills, this study introduces “cultural ruptures” and a “pedagogy of disruption” as part of a new approach to engaging young people in an of education that is explicit in it’s efforts to critique society and interrogate one’s own identity (Freire & Macedo, 1987). This research also advocates strongly on behalf of English classrooms (and English teachers specifically) as among the most important “actors” in the work of humanizing education, and offers tangible recommendations and strategies for practitioners toward that end

Impact of birth weight and gender on early postnatal hypothalamic energy balance regulatory gene expression in the young lamb

Peer reviewedPreprin