Application of Low-cost Color Sensor Technology in Soil Data Collection and Soil Science Education

Sensor technologies provide opportunities to increase the quality and quantity of soils data while introducing new techniques and tools for classrooms. Linear regression models were developed for organic carbon prediction using color data gathered with the Nix Pro™ for dry (R2 = 0.7978, MSPE = 0.0819), and moist soils (R2 = 0.7254, MSPE = 0.1536). A mobile application, the Soil Scanner app, was created to allow for a more soil science dedicated interface that would allow users to create their own database consisting of GPS location and soil color data gathered using the Nix Pro™. The final application produced results in multiple color systems, including Munsell, recorded GPS location, sample depth, moisture conditions, in-field or laboratory settings, and a photograph of the soil sample. All data could then be uploaded to an online database. The GPS location allows for easy integration of data into GIS mapping software for the spatial manipulation of soils data. The application was tested by generating GIS maps showing the gradient of soil color across two field surfaces. The Nix Pro™ color sensor functions as a successful teaching tool and, coupled with the Soil Scanner app, offers a new means of gathering and storing reliable soils data. There is added benefit to having a soil science application that can be updated to include further analysis methods, resulting in an ever growing soils database. A laboratory exercise was developed that introduced students in an entry level soils course to the importance of soil color and the methods used to determine soil color. Students were then asked to determine the color of three soil samples using the Nix Pro™ and the standard Munsell Color Chart before conducting simple statistical analysis and responding to a questionnaire. Responses indicate that the Nix Pro™ was the preferred method of color analysis and students felt the sensor to be a more reliable method than traditional color books

An Analysis of the Japanese Credit Network

An analysis of the Japanese credit market in 2004 between banks and quoted firms is done in this paper using the tools of the networks theory. It can be pointed out that: (i) a backbone of the credit channel emerges, where some links play a crucial role; (ii) big banks privilege long-term contracts; the "minimal spanning trees" (iii) disclose a highly hierarchical backbone, where the central positions are occupied by the largest banks, and emphasize (iv) a strong geographical characterization, while (v) the clusters of firms do not have specific common properties. Moreover, (vi) while larger firms have multiple lending in large, (vii) the demand for credit (long vs. short term debt and multi-credit lines) of firms with similar sizes is very heterogeneous.Comment: 23 pages with 14 figures; revised and Figure 14 adde

License prices for financially constrained firms

It is often alleged that high auction prices inhibit service deployment. We investigate this claim under the extreme case of financially constrained bidders. If demand is just slightly elastic, auctions maximize consumer surplus if consumer surplus is a convex function of quantity (a common assumption), or if consumer surplus is concave and the proportion of expenditure spent on deployment is greater than one over the elasticity of demand. The latter condition appears to be true for most of the large telecom auctions in the US and Europe. Thus, even if high auction prices inhibit service deployment, auctions appear to be optimal from the consumers’ point of view

(Il)Legitimisation of the role of the nation state: Understanding of and reactions to Internet censorship in Turkey

This study aims to explore Turkish citizen-consumers' understanding of and reactions to censorship of websites in Turkey by using in-depth interviews and online ethnography. In an environment where sites such as YouTube and others are increasingly being banned, the citizen-consumers' macro-level understanding is that such censorship is part of a wider ideological plan and their micro-level understanding is that their relationship with the wider global network is reduced, in the sense that they have trouble accessing full information on products, services and experiences. The study revealed that citizen-consumers engage in two types of resistance strategies against such domination by the state: using irony as passive resistance, and using the very same technology used by the state to resist its domination

How selective are real wage cuts? : a micro-analysis using linked employer-employee data

Using linked employer–employee panel data for Germany, this paper investigates whether firms implement real wage reductions in a selective manner. In line with insider–outsider and several strands of efficiency wage theory, we find strong evidence for selective wage cuts with high-productivity workers being spared even when controlling for permanent differences in firms’ wage policies. In contrast to some recent contributions stressing fairness considerations, we also find that wage cuts increase wage dispersion among peers rather than narrowing it. Notably, the same selectivity pattern shows up when restricting our analysis to firms covered by collective agreements or having a works council

THE COST STRUCTURE OF MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA

Microfinance institutions are important, particularly in developing countries, because they expand the frontier of financial intermediation by providing loans to those traditionally excluded from formal financial markets. This paper presents the first systematic statistical examination of the performance of MFIs operating in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. A cost function is estimated for MFIs in the region from 1999-2004. First, the presence of subsidies is found to be associated with higher MFI costs. When output is measured as the number of loans made, we find that MFIs become more efficient over time and that MFIs involved in the provision of group loans and loans to women have lower costs. However, when output is measured as volume of loans rather than their number, this last finding is reversed. This may be due to the fact that such loans are smaller in size; thus for a given volume more loans must be made.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40195/3/wp809.pd

The role of a matchmaker in buyer-vendor interactions

We consider a simple market where a vendor offers multiple variants of a certain product and preferences of both the vendor and potential buyers are heterogeneous and possibly even antagonistic. Optimization of the joint benefit of the vendor and the buyers turns the toy market into a combinatorial matching problem. We compare the optimal solutions found with and without a matchmaker, examine the resulting inequality between the market participants, and study the impact of correlations on the system.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, minor modification