Selecting corn hybrids for performance and profit

One of the most important management decisions a corn grower makes each year is the selection of corn hybrids for spring planting. During the past 40 to 50 years, there has been continuous improvement in the genetics of corn hybrids which has contributed to steady increases in grain yield potential ranging from 0.7 to 2.6% per year. To stay competitive growers must introduce new hybrids to their acreage on a regular basis

A strategic marketing and financial analysis of Toys R Us

The following is a strategic marketing and financial analysis concerning the highly dynamic operations of Toys R Us

Integrating Inter-Group Dialogue

To examine the effects of intergroup dialogue in social work. Project aimed to increase faculty knowledge and improve students’ skills in communicating about difficult subjects by participating in intergroup dialogue. Faculty infused the 4-stage IGD model in seven Bachelor of Social Work courses. Assessment, using pre-post tests, were administered to evaluate increases in students’ level of … 1) Empathy, 2) Awareness of social inequality, 3) Beliefs about inequality in society, 4) Capacity to engage in dialogue, 5) Communication regarding differenc

A Model Reification Approach to Fusing Information from Multifidelity Information Sources

While the growing number of computational models available to designers can solve a lot of problems, it complicates the process of properly utilizing the information provided by each simulator. It may seem intuitive to select the model with the highest accuracy, or fidelity. Decision makers want the greatest degree of certainty to increase their efficacy. However, high fidelity models often come at a high computational expense. While comparatively lacking in veracity, low fidelity models do contain some degree of useful information that can be obtained at a low cost. We propose a method to utilize this information to generate a fused model with superior predictive capability than any of its constituent models. Our methodology estimates the correlation between each model using a model reification approach that precludes the need for observational data. The correlation is then used in an updating procedure whereby uncertain outputs from multiple models may be fused together to better estimate some quantity or quantities of interest

A Model for Testing New Seed Technologies

Extension specialists from several North Central states recently proposed a new approach to expedite and facilitate evaluation of new genetically modified organism (GMO) hybrids through multi-state testing. As an example of this approach, newly released GMO glyphosate tolerant (GT) corn hybrids were evaluated at multiple locations across five states in 1999 and nine states in 2001. This cooperative testing effort demonstrated that powerful sets of data across a range of production environments could be generated with a minimal amount of input and resource allocation for the individual states

Exploring a Model-Driven Approach to Social Work Theory Education

Accredited social work programs must use practice experience and theory to inform research and practice, policy, engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation with varied constituents. Models to teach theory have been all but non-existent. This manuscript presents the S.A.L.T. model for theory assessment and shares findings when the model is applied to assess students’ knowledge