RISK AND RETURN TO IP GRAIN PRODUCTION: THE CASE OF HIGH OIL CORN

Returns for soybeans, commodity corn and high oil corn under an export and domestic market buyer's-call contract were simulated. High oil corn is competitive with commodity corn when yield drag is two percent and bundling reduces seed cost. Commodity loan rate is important in reducing high oil corn price risk.Crop Production/Industries,

Objects, actions, and images: a perspective on early number development

It is the purpose of this article to present a review of research evidence that indicates the existence of qualitatively different thinking in elementary number development. In doing so, the article summarizes empirical evidence obtained over a period of 10 years. This evidence first signaled qualitative differences in numerical processing, and was seminal in the development of the notion of procept. More recently, it examines the role of imagery in elementary number processing. Its conclusions indicate that in the abstraction of numerical concepts from numerical processes qualitatively different outcomes may arise because children concentrate on different objects or different aspects of the objects, which are components of numerical processing

What is the object of the encapsulation of a process?

Several theories have been proposed to describe the transition from process to object in mathematical thinking. Yet, what is the nature of this ''object'' produced by the ''encapsulation'' of a process? Here, we outline the development of some of the theories (including Piaget, Dienes, Davis, Greeno, Dubinsky, Sfard, Gray, and Tall) and consider the nature of the mental objects (apparently) produced through encapsulation and their role in the wider development of mathematical thinking. Does the same developmental route occur in geometry as in arithmetic and algebra? Is the same development used in axiomatic mathematics? What is the role played by imagery

The Effects of Early Adoption of Academic Electronic Health Records System (EHRS) on Patient Outcome in Nursing

The wide adoption of EHR systems has led the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to emphasize the use of informatics as a core competency required of all health care professions. However, the nursing profession has been slow to incorporate information technology into formal nurse education and practice. In the massive transformation from disconnected, inefficient, paper-based care delivery to interconnected system driven by EHRs (Electronic Health Records system), little is known about the effect of the early adoption of academic EHRs in nursing education and relationship between effective use of EHRs and patient outcome in nursing. In this study, a community-academic partnership was driven to have better resources to assess the effect of the early adoption of academic EHRs in Nursing education, using the local hospital’s training set of electronic health records system (EHRs). With this pilot study, a quantitative research design with supportive qualitative research will be used. First a two-group quasi-experimental pre-post design will be used to assess changes in nursing students’ readiness/effectiveness of nursing documentation using academic EHRs. Second, a cross-sectional research design will be used to identify the relationship between effectiveness of nursing documentation by nurses (e.g., time) and patient outcome (e.g., incident rate, healthcare associated infections, falls incidences, pressure ulcer incidences, and patient satisfaction). Student and faculty participants will be recruited from one university in the Eastern United States. Nurse participants will be recruited from one hospital in Eastern United States. Patient outcome information will be retrieved from the electronic health record system. These findings will be very helpful to prepare students for the future of health information technology. Meaningful adoption of academic electronic health record systems will help in building the undergraduate nursing students’ competence in nursing documentation with electronic health record systems and improve patient care

Tele-operated high speed anthropomorphic dextrous hands with object shape and texture identification

This paper reports on the development of two number of robotic hands have been developed which focus on tele-operated high speed anthropomorphic dextrous robotic hands. The aim of developing these hands was to achieve a system that seamlessly interfaced between humans and robots. To provide sensory feedback, to a remote operator tactile sensors were developed to be mounted on the robotic hands. Two systems were developed, the first, being a skin sensor capable of shape reconstruction placed on the palm of the hand to feed back the shape of objects grasped and the second is a highly sensitive tactile array for surface texture identification

What is Life Worth? A Rough Guide to Valuation

In this speculative article, the aim is to elaborate a definition of life that is not biological, and a valuation of it that is not commodified. This is undertaken by the development of an understanding of death as a process which is embedded in the life of a community. The idea is that we can best understand what life is worth by first understanding what death means

Algae for biofuel:will the evolution of weeds limit the enterprise?

Algae hold promise as a source of biofuel. Yet the manner in which algae are most efficiently propagated and harvested is different from that used in traditional agriculture. In theory, algae can be grown in continuous culture and harvested frequently to maintain high yields with a short turnaround time. However, the maintenance of the population in a state of continuous growth will likely impose selection for fast growth, possibly opposing the maintenance of lipid stores desiriable for fuel. Any harvesting that removes a subset of the population and leaves the survivors to establish the next generation may quickly select traits that escape harvesting. An understanding of these problems should help identify methods for retarding the evolution and enhancing biofuel production