An Analysis of Major Farm Characteristics and Farmers' Use of Cooperatives

This paper examines relationships between major farm characteristics and U.S. farmers’ use of cooperatives in 1986. An ordinal measure of co-op use is developed to classify farmers according to their respective use of cooperatives for marketing farm products or purchasing farm inputs. Logit regression analysis is then used to examine major farm characteristics relative to farmers’ co-op use. Statistically significant relationships were found between co-op use and various farm type, size, and location groupings. No statistically significant relationship was found between co-op use and farm operator age.Agribusiness,

Regulating the employment dynamics of domestic supply chains

This paper sheds light on the role that the regulation of primarily domestic, rather than global, supply chains could play in protecting and enhancing standards of workplace health and safety, as well as employment standards more generally. The analysis presented confirms the potential relevance of such regulation in these regards. However, it also reinforces existing evidence pointing to the fact that only very rarely will market-related considerations on their own prompt purchasers to seek to directly influence the employment practices of their suppliers. The paper ends therefore by highlighting a number of key issues relating to the design of regulatory initiatives aimed at protecting and enhancing employment conditions within supply chains

Protecting workers through supply chains: lessons from two construction case studies

Two case studies of the successful use of supply chains to support the effective management of health and safety on constructions sites are analysed to identify the factors supporting this success. The analysis reveals that a combination of external regulatory pressures and an industry structure facilitative of the establishment and implementation of ‘good practice’ played a crucial role in the outcomes achieved. It is concluded therefore that while the findings lend weight to policy initiatives to utilise the power dynamics in supply chains to protect working conditions, they also suggest that surrounding institutional and industrial contexts exert a potentially crucial influence over their effectiveness. Consequently, it is further argued that such initiatives need to be responsively shaped to them

A phenomenographic study of creativity as an employability skill in Higher Education

The aim of this study was to better understand the meaning given by academics, students and graduate employers to the concept of creativity as an employability skill. The expectations incumbent upon UK Higher Education institutions to develop graduates with skills that meet with graduate employers’ expectations, appears to be ever growing and the increased scrutiny of institutional performance in this regard, via metrics such as the Graduate Outcomes survey and the Teaching Excellence Framework, seemingly promote the prioritisation of graduate employability skills. Creativity has been noted (Gray, 2016) as being an important skill for future employability and whilst agreement is apparent that creativity is valued, little in the way of a consensus regarding an actual definition of creativity is evident. Contextualised in UK Higher Education, the primary focus of the research was to explore the variation and complexities in the participants’ perceptions of creativity and, thus, establish a consensus of understanding of creativity as an employability skill. In doing so, the study begins to address the seeming lack of understanding which surrounds creativity per se and the apparent conflict between the underpinning values of Higher Education, which appreciate creativity and the risk aversion resulting from the metrification of the sector. The study adopted an interpretivist, phenomenographic position and undertook data collection employing a Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014) approach; engaging 41 academics, 84 students and 25 graduate employers in the initial stage of data collection. Three academics, three students and two graduate employers participated in the latter three stages of data collection, with participants undertaking reflexive photography activity, unstructured and semi-structured interviews. Congruent with the principles of Grounded Theory (Corbin and Strauss, 2015), constant comparison, theoretical sampling and memoing were undertaken during the data collection and analysis. The findings of this study have illustrated consensual themes in the participants’ perception of creativity as an employability skill in a number of ways; specifically noting that the concept has two core aspects(processing of thoughts and production of a valued entity) which are influenced by surrounding factors (personal characteristics, collaborating with others, facilitating situational factors, understanding the subject). Furthermore, the research highlights that whilst elements of consensual understanding existed across the participants, a plurality of definition by participant grouping and subject domain emerged. Taking the themes and the plurality into account, the study generated 17 recommendations to subsequently inform future practices of graduate employers, and academics and students in Higher Education so as to better develop creativity as an employability skill in graduates

'Tyneside flats' : a paradigm tenure for interconnected dwellings

'Tyneside Flats' are typically terraced buildings comprising pairs of self-contained flats and are particularly prevalent on Tyneside in north eastern England. This thesis examines the land tenure arrangements used for individual Tyneside Flats and the enforcement of land obligations between flat owners. This provides an interesting model for tenurial arrangements across England and Wales where there are interconnected buildings and other small blocks of self contained flats. The thesis includes an analysis of qualitative and quantitative research data obtained from north eastern conveyancers. The first introductory chapter explains the background to the research project and the research objectives. It also contains the research questions and an overview of the literature and methodology used. Chapter two puts Tyneside Flats in their historical context and describes their architectural features. The judicial development of the law of positive freehold obligations from the nineteenth century onwards is analysed in chapter three. Past and present law reform proposals and the 2002 commonhold legislation are assessed in chapter four. In the 1980s a mixed freehold/leasehold arrangement for Tyneside Flat transfer was promulgated by Newcastle Law Society. This standard structure and other alternative freehold conveyancing devices are considered in chapter five. Chapter six contains a detailed and technical analysis of the impact of modern leasehold legislation on the standard form arrangement. The methodology used for data collection is described in chapter seven. Chapter eight examines how the standard Tyneside Flat documentation works in practice. This key chapter analyses qualitative and quantitative research data in detail. The final concluding chapter contains an overview of the research questions and results. It includes recommendations for legislative reform and the future prospects for the standard form arrangement and a freehold land obligation alternative.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Continuous or intermittent walking, the effect on glycated hemoglobin in sedentary employees during 10-week intervention

To examine long term changes on glycated hemoglobin in sedentary employees exposed to two different walking programs during a 10-week intervention. A total of 68 sedentary employees participated in a 10-week walking intervention and were randomly assigned to one of three groups: intermittent walking, continuous walking or control group. Hemoglobin A1cNOW+ device tested glycated hemoglobin and accelerometry assessed physical activity. Results showed glycated hemoglobin significantly decreased over the ten weeks (5.82±0.49, 5.66±0.44) F(1,64) =4.229, p=.044) in the continuous walking group. Post-Hoc test showed the continuous walking group was significantly affected, F=8.463, p=.009, with a large size effect n2=.297. There were no changes within the intermittent group (5.69±0.63, 5.63±0.6) or control group (5.59±0.6, 5.6±0.54) (p>0.05). Accelerometry showed a main effect of time by group interaction F(4,124) =4.688, p=0.001). Post-Hoc indicated that the continuous walking group took significantly longer bouts of moderate to vigorous intensity walking at week-6 compared to pre-test (p=0.006) at this could have influenced the results, there were no changes in the length of bouts in the intermittent or control groups (p>0.05). Sedentary employees who perform a moderate intensity continuous walking program show benefits in controlling blood glucose, thereby, reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes

The relationship between oxidised LDL, endothelial progenitor cells and coronary endothelial function in patients with CHD

Objective The balance between coronary endothelial dysfunction and repair is influenced by many protective and deleterious factors circulating in the blood. We studied the relationship between oxidised low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL), circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and coronary endothelial function in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods 33 patients with stable CHD were studied. Plasma oxLDL was measured using ELISA, coronary endothelial function was assessed using intracoronary acetylcholine infusion and EPCs were quantified using flow cytometry for CD34+/KDR+ cells. Results Plasma oxLDL correlated positively with the number of EPCs in the blood (r=0.46, p=0.02). There was a positive correlation between the number of circulating EPCs and coronary endothelial function (r=0.42, p=0.04). There was no significant correlation between oxLDL and coronary endothelial function. Conclusions Plasma levels of oxLDL are associated with increased circulating EPCs in the blood of patients with CHD, which may reflect a host-repair response to endothelial injury. Patients with stable CHD had a high prevalence of coronary endothelial dysfunction, which was associated with lower numbers of circulating EPCs, suggesting a mechanistic link between endothelial dysfunction and the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis