A Whole- Farm Investment Analysis of Some Precision Agriculture Technologies

This study uses a farm in the Victorian Mallee over the period 1998 2005 to analyse whole-farm profitability and risks of investing in Precision Agriculture and Site-Specific Crop Management systems. To answer the research questions, a model to predict yield under PA management is developed to simulate paddock and activity gross margins. Analysis is conducted that enables judgements to be formed about merit of investing in some PA technologies. The case study farm comprised 1400 hectares, with 900 hectares of cereals cropped each year. In this case, investment in Zone Management technologies did not meet the required return on capital. Using the relationship of paddock variability to profitability derived from the simulation data, in a year with median growing season rainfall, a variation of at least 2.5t/ha in yield across the paddock was required to meet the required rate of return on the Zone Management investment. A comparison using certain and uncertain seasonal knowledge assumptions indicated that seasonal variation has a much bigger impact on gross margins than spatial variation on this case study farm. Two equipment guidance systems were evaluated. Both systems earned more than 8 per cent on capital invested. Real-Time Kinetic (RTK) guidance with a precision of 2cm and a capital cost of $50,000 was outperformed in economic terms by a$20,000, 10cm accuracy Sub-Metre guidance system. The analysis of RTK guidance profitability showed that it would be important that producers who invest in this technology also adopt supporting management practices that enhance crop gross margins or provide other benefits. Investment in GPS guidance technology can be a worthwhile investment, provided the benefits per hectare are adequate and the capital cost is spread over sufficient hectares. This conclusion is endorsed by many Australian farmers who have moved towards GPS guidance.Farm Management,

General discussion : central bank communication and policy effectiveness

Greenspan, Alan ; Monetary policy ; Banks and banking, Central

Reforming the global architecture of financial regulation: the G20, the IMF and the FSB

The global financial crisis that began in 2007 and deepened in 2008 exposed major weaknesses in financial and macroeconomic policy coordination, and profound flaws in financial risk management and regulation in a number of advanced countries. The severity of the crisis led global leaders to recognize that they must find a way to reform the global regulatory architecture to ensure that the financial system can absorb shocks while continuing to function efficiently. In response to the crisis, the Group of Twenty (G20) met in November 2008, for the first time at the leaders level, to agree on a comprehensive strategy to restore trust in the financial system and to limit the fallout from the crisis on global output and employment. Currently, there is a complicated governance structure for the program to reform the global architecture of financial regulation that consists of three entities — one ad hoc and self-selected (G20), one treaty-based and systemic (International Monetary Fund [IMF]) and one a creation of the G20 (Financial Stability Board [FSB]). This paper undertakes an analysis of how cooperation takes place among these actors to implement the fundamental reforms needed to ensure that the global financial system is better able to withstand shocks than it was in 2007-2008. The analysis suggests a number of actions that the IMF and FSB should take to strengthen their cooperation and effectiveness, and highlights some of the problems created when no single agency has overall responsibility for the regulatory oversight of the international financial system. More broadly, it concludes that an appropriate framework for the governance of macroeconomic and financial policy cooperation in an interconnected world is a bimodal structure which includes both a restricted executive group of leaders who can implement major changes in the strategic policy direction to meet unforeseen developments and a universal, treaty-based official international financial institution that provides regular, consistent policy advice to its members. A more effective structure of governance over international economic policy cooperation would be possible if the countries and jurisdictions whose leaders made up the restricted executive group were to be selected by a more systematic and widely accepted process than at present. This raises the question, addressed at the conclusion of this paper, of what the appropriate relationship should be between the IMF’s key governing body — the International Monetary and Financial Committee — and an executive group such as the G20. This paper was originally published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) as Malcolm D. Knight (2014) “Reforming the Global Architecture of Financial Regulation: The G20, the IMF and the FSB.” CIGI Paper No. 42. September

General discussion : has financial development made the world riskier?

Greenspan, Alan ; Financial markets ; Monetary policy ; Banks and banking, Central

A preliminary investigation into the status, distribution and some aspects of the foraging ecology of the southern ground hornbill (Bucorvus cafer) in Natal.

Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, 1990.A study on the distribution, status and selected aspects of the foraging ecology of B. cafer in Natal, was undertaken from January 1989 to December 1990. A census was initiated to assess the distribution of B. cafer in Natal. 436 sightings were reported from 187 locations. B. cafer occurs throughout Natal, except in the far northwestern regions. A population estimation based on this census suggest that between 300-350 B. cafer individuals exist in Natal, excluding KwaZulu regions. The large area occupied by KwaZulu and the protection of this species by Zulu folk law, suggest that the population may be considerably larger. Selected aspects of the foraging ecology of the two study groups in the Natal midlands were examined, focusing on the role that individuals play in provisioning the nestling, nest bound female and fledgling. B. cafer are predominantly carnivorous. They are able to utilise habitats used for a wide variety of agricultural practices. The major criteria, in terms of habitat selection, being a short (0.5 m) or sparse ground cover. Younger birds were less successful than older individuals at digging and probing for food. Foraging success rate of the juvenile increased from 7.2% prior to nesting, to 51.2% during nesting. The acquisition of foraging skills, particularly digging and probing, takes time and experience. Frogs were the major food item fed to the nestling and nest bound female. The presence of helpers reduced the amount of feeding by parent birds. Helpers in the stainbank group supp plied 25% of food bundles to the nest. The juvenile did not act as a helper. Subadults helped most during the periods when the demand for food delivery to the nest was highest, and at the end of the nesting period. Helpers reduced the amount of time that the dominant female spent away from the nest during incubation and early nestling phase. Once the female left the nest, the male reduced his food delivery rate. An abundance of frogs, close to the nest, enabled a single pair to adequately provision a nestling. The parent birds provisioned the fledgling until the following breeding season

Masks praxis: theories and practices in modern drama

Mask Praxis is an investigation of the theories and practices behind the uses of the mask in modern drama from 1896 to 2004. The study traces the crisis in humanism through the use of idealist and materialist masks by theatre practitioners and explains how the search for a unified field was overlaid by fractured identities and a slide into dissonance. How important are the masks that people adopt on the stage for understanding their actions in society? How does the metaphorical power and perceptual ambiguity of the mask correlate with intentions of its maker and performer? What is the relationship between the mask and the face of the actor, and what does the mask do that cannot be done unaided? What are the main approaches to actor training that have used masks, and how are these training systems connected to wider belief systems? What do we learn from the act of masking about self-perception and social being, and what are the principal considerations that this gives rise to? This investigation proceeds from a consideration of major theories and practices. Chapter 1 examines mask performance theories, conventions, and typologies. Chapter 2 analyses the specificity of the mask, materials and methods, representative mask-makers and provides casebook studies on the Sartori family and the Masks for Menander Project. Chapter 3 evaluates actor-training under the mask from Copeau to Lecoq. Chapter 4 assesses the masks of idealist modernism and Chapter 5 considers the masks of materialist modernism. The final chapter is dedicated to transnational flows, multinational productions and the notion of connectivity. It brings new evidence to bear on the emergent field of masks, puppets and performing objects and sets down a major overview of the mask as a primary iconographic tool and as a liminoid instrument from which to mediate and direct the flow of power in a system

The Sgraffito of Heywood Sumner (1853 - 1940) Volumes 1 and 2

George Heywood Maunoir Sumner (1853-1940) was the leading English exponent in the nineteenth century revival of sgraffito, an ancient form of incised plaster decoration used to adorn buildings. A prominent founding member of the Arts and Crafts movement, he was talented in a range of media, but especially sgraffito, developing a style that escaped the classical forms used by other artists of his period. This account of Sumner’s sgraffito is based on a study of the technique’s history, an architectural survey of his works and an archival study of his family background, friends and influences. Sumner’s working methods, plaster mixes, and organisation are reviewed. This culminates in an account of the author’s attempt to replicate sgraffito panels, based on one of Sumner’s schemes, in order to explore whether it is a technique suitable for contemporary use in the UK. Concluding chapters examine other sgraffito artists; the durability of external sgraffito and its absence in England after the First World War; its continuing use in Europe and Sumner’s influence there, as well as renewed recent interest in Sumner, the need to conserve what survives of his sgraffito and whether some of his lost work could be reinstated. Volume 1 is the dissertation; Volume 2 is an up-to-date catalogue of his work