A Stochastic Analysis of Proposals for the New US Farm Bill

Most of the large scale modeling systems used in the analysis of agricultural policies produce deterministic projections. In reality, however, the agricultural sector is subject to a high degree of uncertainty as a result of fluctuations in exogenous factors such as the weather or macroeconomic variation. A stochastic approach can provide additional information to policy makers regarding the implications of this uncertainty, through the use of stochastically generated projections. This paper also shows how deterministic analysis may result in systematic errors in the projection of some variables. As an applied example, the FAPRI model of the US agricultural sector is simulated stochastically to analyse the impact of proposals for the new US farm bill.Stochastic simulation, US Farm Bill, policy analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy,

A State-Level Agricultural Sector Policy Model: Baseline and Implications of the Dunkel Text on Agriculture for Iowa

A better understanding of the relationship between a state\u27s agricultural sector and the national agricultural economy increases the ability of agricultural interest groups to anticipate and understand policy developments. This paper develops and documents a state-level model of the Iowa agricultural sector. The model is used to evaluate the future performance of the Iowa agricultural economy, given a specific set of assumptions about the general economy, agricultural policies, the weather, and technology change. When the model is used to analyze the implications of the Dunkel text on agriculture, the increase in Iowa net farm income is found to be proportionally higher then the increase in U.S. net farm income, because Iowa\u27s agricultural economy is concentrated in commodities that benefit from the Dunkel text

Lactose and benign ovarian tumours in a case–control study

We investigated the relation between benign ovarian tumours and lactose among 746 case women identified at seven New York metropolitan hospitals and 404 community controls, age and hospital frequency matched to the expected case distribution. No increase in risk was found for lactose (highest quartile versus lowest: adjusted odds ratio = 0.82 (95% CI 0.57–1.20) or for any other lactose foods. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Surveilling the web, mobile, and language accessibility of Communication’s digital presence within institutions of higher education globally

This study aims to understand the general web accessibility of digital information networks which may serve as barriers for access to the global discipline of Communication through institutional and departmental websites, specifically for persons with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency (LEP). Our exploratory content analysis relies on computer-aided software to systematically analyze the departmental home pages of websites of institutional members of the International Communication Association (ICA), N = 77, representing 26 countries, globally. Findings from this study help us to: (1) better understand the general web, language, and mobile accessibility of discipline-related online information; (2) identify strengths and opportunities for improvement; and, (3) to reflect upon the anticipated barriers impacting persons with disabilities when accessing higher education information online

Clinical indicators for success of misoprostol treatment after early pregnancy failure

Objective To identify clinical indicators for success of misoprostol treatment after early pregnancy failure. Methods A total of 473 women with early pregnancy failure received 800 μg of vaginal misoprostol on treatment day 1. At the follow-up visit on day 3, a second dose was given if expulsion was incomplete. On day 8, vacuum aspiration was offered if expulsion had not occurred. Ultrasonography was used as gold standard for success. A Classification and Regression Tree analysis was undertaken to derive two decision trees for the success of misoprostol treatment on study days 3 and 8. Results Heavy bleeding after the first dose and an open cervical os were identified as clinical indicators of treatment success on day 3. Treatment success occurred in 84% of women with either or both indicators. Reporting passage of tissue after a second misoprostol dose and old blood in the vagina were potential indicators of treatment success or failure on day 8. A woman with either of these indicators has a 65% chance of treatment success after the second dose. Conversely, a woman with neither indicator on day 8 has a 94% chance of treatment failure. Conclusion Standard clinical findings may be useful as indicators for success or failure of medical management of early pregnancy failure in settings with limited or no access to ultrasonography. More research to identify even better indicators is warranted

A Software Architecture for Model-Based Programming of Robot Systems

Abstract While robot systems become more and more elaborate, the need to sim-plify programming them grows as well. Regarding the high degree of internal het-erogeneity in the sense that different microcontroller platforms, protocols and per-formance layers are used in a single robot application, it is not feasible to have spe-cialists dedicated to each individual task. This motivates the need for tool support that allows an abstract view on a robot’s sensors and actuators, means to program in-dividual components as well as to define their interaction. In this work, we present how the model-based development and code generation tool EasyLab can be ex-tended to support programming of all parts of a robot, including the main controller as well as peripheral devices like smart sensors. We show three typical use cases in the context of mobile platforms and highlight EasyLab’s advantages in each domain.

A distributed stream temperature model using high resolution temperature observations

International audienceDistributed temperature data are used as input and as calibration data for an energy based temperature model of a first order stream in Luxembourg. A DTS (Distributed Temperature Sensing) system with a fiber optic cable of 1500 m was used to measure stream water temperature with 1 m resolution each 2 min. Four groundwater inflows were identified and quantified (both temperature and relative discharge). The temperature model calculates the total energy balance including solar radiation (with shading effects), longwave radiation, latent heat, sensible heat and river bed conduction. The simulated temperature is compared with the observed temperature at all points along the stream. Knowledge of the lateral inflow appears to be crucial to simulate the temperature distribution and conversely, that stream temperature can be used successfully to identify sources of lateral inflow. The DTS fiber optic is an excellent tool to provide this knowledge

Boccia court analysis for promoting elderly physical activity

Physical inactivity is one of the leading risk factors for global mortality. Older adults, in particular, are more probable to suffer the consequences of physical inactivity, since it is one of the most sedentary age groups. On the other hand, engaging physical activity can have various benefits for the prevention of several diseases and functional loss prevention, therefore, it is critical to encourage its regular practice amongst the elderly. Boccia is a simple precision ball sport that is easily adaptable for individuals with physical limitations, which makes it a perfectly good game for this circumstance. The present paper proposes a ball-detection based system for monitoring the Boccia court, compute the current game score and display it on a user interface. The future goal of such system will be to motivate the elders to participate more frequently in the Boccia game and make the overall game experience more enjoyable. The proposed system was tested with twenty video recordings of different simulated game situations. Overall, the obtained results were encouraging, having only one incorrect game score being computed by the developed algorithm.This article is a result of the project Deus ex Machina: NORTE01-0145-FEDER-000026, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)