Innovative Ways to Connect Information Systems Programs to the Business Community

A question was posted on ISWorld, asking: Do you or your IS program have any unique, interesting ways that you are interacting with the business community? Over 50 people responded with interesting and successful activities. The activities can be grouped into six categories: (1) student-centered initiatives, (2) instruction-centered initiatives, (3) externally funded, high tech laboratories, (4) research-centered initiatives, (5) faculty/student/practioner interactions, and (6) new business ventures. The activities in each of these categories are described

The AMCIS 2003 Panels on IS Education-I: Let Us Not Throw Out the Baby with the Bath Water: Information, Technology, and Systems All Matter in the Core IS Course

Recent discussion about MIS centers on its role as an academic discipline and the utility of the core IS course in undergraduate business programs. This article presents a summary of a panel discussion at the AMCIS 2003 meeting about these issues. In includes the results of a survey on what elements of the IS 2002.1 Introduction to MIS course are being used that was presented. It also presents the discussions among panel participants and the audience and the panelists emerging perspective on the topic. Some advocate a reduction in the focus on systems and technology in the core IS course. However, we believe that this view is an over-reaction to concerns about the course, and suggest (as did many before us) that systems theory is a central organizing them of the core IS course. We believe that the response by the field should not be to water down our core course, but to identify our contribution and highlight it. To this end, we offer a concise statement of what we believe is the heart of the core IS course

Efficiency of Niche Pork Production in 2006

Production of niche pork has been expanding in response to increased demand. Little information is known about production efficiency of niche pork. This report provides information on production efficiency from 41 niche pork producers. The average female breeding herd size was 91 females. The average feed efficiency was 4.31 pounds of feed per pound of pork produced. The average feed efficiency for the top 15 herds was 3.74 and it was 4.25 for the bottom 15 herds. Average labor use was .87 hours per hundred pounds of pork produced. About one of every four pigs born alive died before weaning. Another eight percent died from weaning to market. Breeding herd death loss was in the 4 to 6 percent range. The information summarized here shows striking production differences in many areas between the top 15 and bottom 15 producers. The areas with the largest differences are places with the most potential to help producers improve. Educational programming that targets these areas is being developed to help these producers make changes to improve their operations, which in turn will improve the position of this sector of the industry

Returns and Costs of Niche Pork Production in 2006

Production of niche pork has been expanding in response to growing demand. Little information is known about the costs and returns from niche pork production. This report provides information on cost and returns for 41 niche pork producers. Return levels show that the average return to capital, unpaid labor and management for the top 15 producers was $17.43 per hundred pounds of pork produced, while this average was$2.17 for the bottom 15 producers and $10.08 for all 41 producers. The average margin over all costs on a per head sold basis was slightly below breakeven (-$2.36) for all 41 producers. The average return per hour of labor after all costs was $13.17 for all 41 producers, but$22.66 per hour for the top 15 producers and $3.02 for the bottom 15 producers. The average total cost per hundred pounds of pork produced for all producers was$52.05, while the top 15 third had average total costs that were $11.17 less than the bottom 15 producers ($46.05 vs. $57.22). The main contributor to cost differences between the top third and bottom third producers was operating costs, which included feed and other operating expenses but not labor. These costs represented 96 percent of the total cost difference, with 56 percent of this difference being in other operating costs and 40 percent in feed costs

Force distributions in a triangular lattice of rigid bars

We study the uniformly weighted ensemble of force balanced configurations on a triangular network of nontensile contact forces. For periodic boundary conditions corresponding to isotropic compressive stress, we find that the probability distribution for single-contact forces decays faster than exponentially. This super-exponential decay persists in lattices diluted to the rigidity percolation threshold. On the other hand, for anisotropic imposed stresses, a broader tail emerges in the force distribution, becoming a pure exponential in the limit of infinite lattice size and infinitely strong anisotropy.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figures Minor text revisions; added references and acknowledgmen

Returns and Costs of Niche Pork Production in 2008

Information is provided on the return, cost and financial efficiency for niche pork production. Information from 18 niche pork producers is included in the analysis. Return levels showed that the average return to capital, unpaid labor and management return to capital, unpaid labor and management for the top 6 producers was $5.23 per hundred pounds of pork produced, while this average was -$10.68 for the bottom 6 producers and -$3.80 for all 18 producers. The average margin over all costs on a per head sold basis showed a large loss ($-52.89 for the average producer). The average return per hour of labor after all costs was -$12.36 for all 18 producers, but$9.23 per hour for the top 6 producers and -$9.82 for the bottom 6 producers. The average total cost per hundred pounds of pork produced for all producers was$81.40, while the top third (6) had average total costs that were $32.43 less than the bottom 6 producers ($66.52 vs $98.75). Production costs increased by about 21 percent over the 2007 level. The main contributor to cost differences between the top third and bottom third producers was operating costs, which included feed and other operating expenses and labor costs. These costs represented the majority of the total cost difference and were about equally split between the two; operating costs (feed and other) and labor costs. The information summarized here shows striking differences in many areas between the top 6 and bottom 6 producers. The areas with the largest differences are places with the most potential to help producers improve. Educational programming that targets these areas is being developed to help these producers make changes to improve their operations, which in turn will improve the position of this sector of the industry

Efficiency of Niche Pork Production in 2007

Information is provided on pig production efficiency for niche pork production. Information from 27 niche pork producers is included in the analysis. The average female breeding herd size was 81 females. The average feed efficiency was 4.42 pounds of feed per pound of production, although the average for the top 9 herds was 3.78 and the average for the bottom 9 herds was 5.24. Average labor use was 1.01 hours per hundred pounds of pork produced. About one of every four pigs born alive died before weaning. Another 13 percent died from weaning to market. Breeding herd death loss was in the 4 to 12 percent range. The information summarized here shows striking differences in many areas between the top 9 and bottom 9 producers. The areas with the largest differences are places with the most potential to help producers improve. Educational programming that targets these areas is being developed to help these producers make changes to improve their operations, which in turn will improve the position of this sector of the industry

Efficiency of Niche Pork Production in 2008

Information is provided on pig production efficiency for niche pork production. Information from 18 niche pork producers is included in the analysis. The average female breeding herd size was 61 females. The average feed efficiency was 4.63 pounds of feed per pound of production, although the average for the top 6 herds was 4.20 and the average for the bottom 6 herds was 5.25. Average labor use was 1.02 hours per hundred pounds of pork produced. About one of every five pigs born alive died before weaning. Another 10 percent died from weaning to market. Breeding herd death loss was in the 2.5 to 7 percent range. The information summarized here shows striking differences in many areas between the top 6 and bottom 6 producers. The areas with the largest differences are places with the most potential to help producers improve. Educational programming that targets these areas is being developed to help these producers make changes to improve their operations, which in turn will improve the position of this sector of the industry