Productivity Divergence across Kansas Farms

This study used 30 years of continuous data for 135 farms in Kansas to explore changes in productivity using Malmquist productivity indices (MPI). The indices were used to determine whether there was productivity convergence or divergence in Kansas farms. The results showed there was significant divergence among the farms. The average annual productivity growth was 0.50 percent; the top farms based on MPI were larger in terms of value of farm production, crop farm income, and livestock farm income and received a larger percentage of their income from oilseeds, feed grains, and swine than the other farms on average.convergence, divergence, productivity growth, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis,

Productivity Divergence Across Kansas Farms

This study used 30 years of continuous data for 135 farms in Kansas to explore changes in productivity using Malmquist productivity indices. The indices were used to determine whether there was productivity convergence or divergence in Kansas farms. The results showed that there was significant divergence among the farms and not a tendency for farms to catch-up to the same levels of productivity as the top farms in the sample. The average annual productivity growth over the sample period, 1979-2008, was 0.50 percent. The top farms based on MPI were larger in terms of value of farm production, crop farm income and livestock farm income and received a larger percentage of their income from oilseeds, feed grains, and swine than the other farms on average and relatively less of their income from small grains.Farm Management, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis,

Impact of Changes in Energy Input Prices on Ethanol Importation and Prices

Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Understanding 'It': Affective Authenticity, Space, and the Phish Scene

"Understanding It: Affective Authenticity, Space, and the Phish Scene" is an ethnographic study of "scene identity" around the contemporary rock band Phish. Utilizing data generated from six years of ethnographic fieldwork, including over one hundred and fifty interviews with Phish scene participants, this project explores how the production of space at Phish shows works to form a Phish scene identity. I contend that the identity of the Phish scene, what the band members and fans refer to as "it" and I call a spatial articulation of affective authenticity, is produced and formed by scene members themselves, drawing from the interrelations between the production of space (practices that create a specific environment) at shows and a white, middle and upper-middle class cultural memory of the Grateful Dead scene. I situate this process amidst a cultural backdrop of 1980s and 1990s identity politics and in particular, multiculturalism and suggest that Phish scene identity be analyzed as a middle class performance of resistance that achieves community and meaning without resisting class privilege. Following many American, cultural, and performance studies scholars as well as numerous anthropologists, sociologists, and both musicologists and ethnomusicologists, I treat performance as a ritual and posit Phish scene participants can be seen to achieve a social efficacy in their performance of resistance that although heightened from everyday life ultimately serves to replicate the structures of such life. Research regarding the affective nature of "it" and its relationship to the process of cultural memory, collective remembering and forgetting, can be seen as an insightful and powerful theoretical and methodological tool in cultural studies, for it exposes information pertaining not only to subject identity, but also to the discourses and contexts which help articulate such identities. This dissertation begins to examine what interdisciplinary scholars are to make of textual and spatial connections. How does one work to understand these affiliated, and oftentimes, affective relationships? And, in the case of Phish scene identity, how can one understand "it"

Alice Miel and Democratic Schooling: An Early Curriculum Leader\u27s Ideas on Social Learning and Social Studies

Alice Miel, a nationally prominent curriculum development scholar-practitioner at Teachers College of Columbia University for some three decades (1942-1971), frequently has been overlooked in research on the nature and evolution of the curriculum field and the progressive education movement. Furthermore, her contributions have been overlooked even as attention to women in the curriculum field and in educational history has risen. This study addresses this oversight. Miel became a leading figure in the curriculum field largely on the basis of her progressive-era advocacy and practice of democratic social learning as a primary goal of schooling in the United States. This study explores major influences on her ideas, her understandings of democratic concepts and principles, and her application of these concepts and principles both in her own college classroom and in her research on childhood education. It also explores Miel\u27s notions of the elementary school social studies :urriculum and situates those notions within the context of the conventional wisdom of her day regarding a discipline-centered curriculum. In a broader context, this study contributes to the body of curriculum history scholarship. According to Kliebard (1992), for example, curriculum history often deals with the relationship between social change and changing ideas and contains significant social and cultural artifacts of knowledge that have become embodied in the curriculum of schools. Davis (1976, 1977) characterizes curriculum history as a reflective enterprise for curriculum workers that contributes to their understanding of present courses of study and of the professional field by lending a framework for thoughtful deliberation of what the schools should teach. With these observations in mind, Miel\u27s work may be understood as both artifact of curriculum history and as mindful reflection, situated within a particular social and historical context, on democratic meanings and processes. Biographies of Caswell, Taba, Tyler, Schwab, Kilpatrick, Rugg, Bobbitt, Zirbes, Stratemeyer, and others have yielded significant insights. In addition, Seguel\u27s study of early curriculum leaders (1966) constitutes an important theoretical contribution to the field. The study of Miel\u27s life and work adds to this body of knowledge

Difference in science achievement for students with learning disabilities taught in small group versus inclusion setting.

Placement of students with disabilities in their least restrictive environment (LRE) is an important part of a student’s individualized education plan (IEP). The debate as to whether LRE is a full inclusion classroom or mainstreaming a student into an inclusion classroom for part of the day and allowing them to be in a small group classroom when needed has yet to be determined based on the literature available. Therefore the research question for this study was as follows: what difference is there in learning for secondary students with learning disabilities in the area of science when taught in a small group instructional setting versus being instructed in an inclusion co-taught setting? A pre-experimental static-group comparison design with a pre-posttest and unit probes was used to evaluate the effect of educational setting on the academic performance of students with disabilities who were taught environmental science in a co-taught inclusion setting with those taught in a small group setting. There were three students with high incidence disabilities in each condition (inclusion and small group). The content as well as instruction were the same with the only difference between the groups being the instructional setting. Upon analysis of the pretest and posttest results as well as the unit probes, there were no significant differences between the groups. Future research should include larger sample sizes in each group with the participants randomly assigned as well as replicating this study with younger participants

Sample Size and Robustness of Inferences from Logistic Regression in the Presence of Nonlinearity and Multicollinearity

The logistic regression models has been widely used in the social and natural sciences and results from studies using this model can have significant impact. Thus, confidence in the reliability of inferences drawn from these models is essential. The robustness of such inferences is dependent on sample size. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of sample size on the mean estimated bias and efficiency of parameter estimation and inference for the logistic regression model. A number of simulations are conducted examining the impact of sample size, nonlinear predictors, and multicollinearity on substantive inferences (e.g. odds ratios, marginal effects) and goodness of fit (e.g. pseudo-R2, predictability) of logistic regression models. Findings suggest that sample size can affect parameter estimates and inferences in the presence of multicollinearity and nonlinear predictor functions, but marginal effects estimates are relatively robust to sample size.Logistic Regression Model, Multicollinearity, Nonlinearity, Robustness, Small Sample Bias, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

“I WANT TO USE MY SUBJECT MATTER TO...”: THE ROLE OF PURPOSE IN ONE U.S. SECONDARY HISTORY TEACHER’S INSTRUCTIONAL DECISION MAKING

In this study, we explore the instructional decision making of Charlotte, a graduate of an intensive social studies teacher education program. Charlotte articulated a sophisticated conception of historical thinking and appeared to possess exemplary pedagogical content knowledge. Her classroom practice did not incorporate the approaches to historical thinking and inquiry that were discussed in her methods course. She possessed a clear view of her purpose of history teaching, which was to impart a particular set of moral values; her practices were consistent with her purpose; and she controlled her class to accomplish that purpose. Key words: instructional decision making, history teaching, social studies, historical inquiry, document‐based instruction, methods courses, beginning teachers Dans cet article, les auteures analysent une décision pédagogique de Charlotte, diplômée d’un programme de formation à l’enseignement spécialisé en sciences humaines. Charlotte, qui a développé une conception avant‐gardiste de la pensée historique, semble posséder une connaissance exemplaire du sujet. Ses pratiques pédagogiques n’incluent pas les approches discutées dans son cours de méthodologie quant à la pensée et à la recherche historiques. Elle a une notion claire du but qu’elle poursuit en enseignant l’histoire, à savoir la transmission d’un ensemble précis de valeurs morales. Ses pratiques vont de pair avec ce but et elle contrôle sa classe de manière à atteindre son objectif. Mots clés : décision pédagogique, enseignement de l’histoire, sciences humaines, recherche historique, enseignement à l’aide de documents, cours de méthodologie, jeunes enseignants

Does landscape context mediate the nature of density dependence for a coral reef fish?

Over-harvest and landscape change are two of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems. Over-harvest may directly affect key population regulation mechanisms (e.g., density dependence), with the magnitude of the effects being further influenced by changes in landscape structure and associated resource availability. Because resource availability and conspecific density often co-vary within the natural landscape, manipulative experiments are needed to understand how changes in these two drivers may affect density dependence in wild populations. We used a common, shoaling, coral reef fish (white grunt, Haemulon plumierii) as our model species, and manipulated fish densities and landscape context of artificial reef habitats to assess the effects of each on fish condition. We found evidence of inverse density dependence, where individual condition was positively related to conspecific density; landscape context had little effect. Mean grunt condition on natural patch reefs was similar to that for our low grunt density treatment artificial reefs, possibly due to differences in fish densities or landscape context. These findings suggest that over-harvest may have detrimental effects on wild populations that extend beyond mere reductions in population size, especially for group-living species

The Value and Feasibility of Farming Differently Than the Local Average

The purpose of this research is to quantify the value of being different than the local average and feasibility of distinguishing particular parts of an operation from the local average. Kansas crop farms are broken down by their farm characteristics, production practices, and management performances. An ordinary least squares regression model is used to quantify the value of having different than average characteristics, practices, and management performances. The degree farms have distinguished particular parts of their operations from the average, and how consistently they distinguish their cost, yields, and prices from the average are also analyzed. Farms’ relative size, workers per acre, planting intensity, machine costs, yields, and prices are all significantly related to farm relative performance. Farms’ characteristics are generally more different from one another than their production practices and management performances, while over time farms’ relative cost management performances are more consistent than their relative yield and price management performances