Slaying the dragon: mythmaking in the biblical tradition

Reviewed Book: Batto, Bernard F. Slaying the dragon: mythmaking in the biblical tradition. Louisville, Ky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992

Indian Horse

Title: Indian Horse. Author: By Richard Wagamese. Publisher: Vancouver: Douglas and MacIntyre, 2012. ISBN: 978155365402

In Their Own Words: Using Siblings’ Meanings about Daily Family Interaction to Understand the Influence of a Child with a Developmental Disability on the Sibling Experience

This study examined daily experiences of stress and coping among adolescent siblings of children with developmental disabilities. Early studies of this population have assumed that living with a disabled sibling is inherently stressful due to changes in the availability and allocation of familial resources. While recent work suggests that only a minority of nondisabled youth experience considerable stress related to family interactions involving a disabled sibling, few studies offer an understanding of how nondisabled siblings make meaning of their experiences and their attempts to cope with them. As such, we have a poor understanding of why some nondisabled siblings struggle while others do not. To address this gap in the literature, I drew on models of stress and coping to conduct a qualitative exploration of the cognitive appraisals used by nondisabled siblings during stressful family interactions. I conducted in-depth individual interviews with 11 nondisabled siblings (aged 10 to 17 years old) to elicit their descriptions of daily family interactions. The interviews were composed of audio-recorded dinner conversations and emotion maps as well as open-ended questions to elicit candid and detailed accounts of family life. Analyses of participants’ appraisal processes addressed the following questions: which aspects of daily family interactions they experienced as stressful and why they were appraised as stressful, how the participants attempted to manage these stressful interactions and why they chose particular coping behaviors and resources, and how their coordination of these appraisals were associated with their subsequent distress. The findings present three important clinical and research implications, including the importance of considering nondisabled siblings’ appraisals of stressful family interactions in clinical practice and research, the need to expand nondisabled siblings’ coping behaviors and resources for managing daily family-related stress, and the role of parents in nondisabled siblings’ experiences of stress

Horizontal branch stars, and galactic and magellanic cloud globular clusters

Seven blue horizontal branch stars in the field were observed and a few HB stars were isolated in globular clusters. Energy distributions are compared to assess possible differences and also used in comparison with model atmospheres. Observed energy distributions of HB stars in NGC 6397 are used to estimate the total number of HB stars which produced the integrated fluxes as observed by ANS. Preliminary results are given for colors of globular clusters observed in the Magellanic Clouds and for their extent, based on the Washburn IUE extraction

RISK MANAGEMENT POTENTIAL OF PRECISION FARMING TECHNOLOGIES

Initial ideas on risk management uses of precision agricultural technology focused on site-specific treatment of problem areas to reduce the probability of low yields and returns. Recent discussions deal with sensor and remote-sensing information to improve marketing and "as applied maps" as trace-back mechanisms to manage liability. A theoretical model is presented that suggests that there are plausible circumstances under which precision farming can reduce temporal yield variability. Empirical evidence from an on-farm trial of site-specific P&K management in the Eastern Cornbelt supports the hypothesis that precision farming can have risk-reducing benefits.food safety, GIS, GPS, crop insurance, marketing, precision farming, site specific management, risk, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Risk and Uncertainty,

THE DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACT OF 1981 AND 1982 FEDERAL INCOME TAX LEGISLATION: WHICH FARMERS BENEFIT?

Simulation was used to analyze the distribution of benefits from the 1981 and 1982 federal income tax legislation for farm types that exhibit various tax characteristics. The results indicate that distributional effects are largely attributable to the reduced progressivity of the tax rate schedule. The largest farms benefited relative to the smaller farms of all farm types. Intensive livestock farms and producers of perennial crops experience additional benefits relative to other farm types primarily because of the large reduction in useful life for tax purposes of specialized livestock facilities, orchards, and vineyards.Agricultural Finance, Public Economics,

PRECISION AGRICULTURE: ECONOMICS OF NITROGEN MANAGEMENT IN CORN USING SITE-SPECIFIC CROP RESPONSE ESTIMATES FROM A SPATIAL REGRESSION MODEL

Adapting variable rate technology (VRT) to Argentine conditions requires methods that use inexpensive information and that focus on the inputs and variability common to Argentine maize and soybean growing areas. The goal of this study is to determine if spatial regression analysis of yield monitor data can be used to estimate the site-specific crop Nitrogen (N) response needed to fine tune variable rate fertilizer strategies. N has been chosen as the focus of this study because it is the most commonly used fertilizer by corn farmers in Argentina. The methodology uses yield monitor data from on-farm trials to estimate site-specific crop response functions. The design involves a strip trial with a uniform N rate along the strip and a randomized complete block design, with regression estimation of N response curves by landscape position. Spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity are taken into account using a spatial error model and a groupwise heteroskedasticity model. A partial budget is used to calculate uniform rate and VRT returns. First year data indicate that N response differs significantly by landscape position, and that VRA for N may be modestly profitable on some locations depending on the VRT fee level, compared to a uniform rate of urea of 80kg ha-1. A more complete analysis will pool data over many farms and several years to determine if reliable differences exist in N response by landscape position or other type of management zone. The study is planned for four years. The purpose of this preliminary analysis is to show how spatial regression analysis of yield data could be used to fine tune input use.Crop Production/Industries,

Non-commutative Gross-Neveu model at large N

The non-commutative O(N) Gross-Neveu model is solved in the large N limit in two and three space-time dimensions. The commutative version of the two dimensional model is a renormalizable quantum field theory, both in a coupling constant expansion and an expansion in 1/N. The non-commutative version has a renormalizable coupling constant expansion where ultraviolet divergences can be removed by adjusting counterterms to each order. On the other hand, in a previous work, we showed that the non-commutative theory is not renormalizable in the large N expansion. This is argued to be due to a combined effect of asymptotic freedom and the ultraviolet/infrared mixing that occurs in a non-commutative field theory. In the present paper we will elaborate on this result and extend it to study the large N limit of the three dimensional Gross-Neveu model. We shall see that the large N limit of the three dimensional theory is also trivial when the ultraviolet cutoff is removed.Comment: 23 page