Economic assessment and analysis of agricultural education programs in the north central region

Agricultural education in the land grant university is an integral part of the total educational process of the university. Little or no attempt has been made to assess the resource use in agricultural education. The purpose of this study is to assess, using economic criteria, the agricultural education programs in the land grant universities of the north central region. Data from the departments within this region are analyzed to determine resources used, inputs and outputs, efficiencies of individual programs, and analyses by size groupings;Data collected from the departmental executive officers revealed a variety of degree programs offered among the universities except for the undergraduate programs. For the 1978-1979 year, the undergraduate program required the largest amount of staff time (36.7% of the total) followed by the research function and graduate teaching/advising. During the same time period, over two-thirds of the salaries paid were used to support the undergraduate program;Various input/output measures were calculated from the data to examine the relationship between salaries, staff time, students, and credit contact hours. The study departments were divided into two size groupings to test statistical differences due to size. Statistical analyses revealed that salary costs per full-time equivalent are significantly different for graduate and research functions. Semester credits per full-time equivalent are also statistically significant;An economic model was conceptualized to test a production function with students graduating as the output measure and salaries and staff as the input measures. Several forms were tested with only a Cobb-Douglas production function being significant

Educating the deliberate professional and enhancing professional agency through peer reflection of work-integrated learning

© The Author(s) 2019. Educating reflexive, socially responsible and action-oriented future professionals who can contribute to a better future remains a core task of higher education. These graduate characteristics describe the deliberate professional. Within this article, we examine the value of a post-work-integrated learning peer reflection activity to foster professional agency and develop the deliberate professional in our students. Students participated in a post-work-integrated learning peer reflection activity, termed a huddle to signpost its informal yet respectful nature, and then completed a written reflection on the nature and value of this reflective experience. Findings demonstrate participants’ engagement with as well as limitations towards becoming deliberate professionals. Implications for future use and further research of this peer reflection activity are offered. This study contributes new evidence that suggests that purposefully structured, dialogic and written post-work-integrated learning peer reflections are an effective approach towards developing professional agency and educating the deliberate professional

Perceptions of Iowa Beginning Farmers Toward the Delivery of Education

The results of this research show that Iowa beginning farmers prefer radio and information services for the delivery of beginning farmer education. At the same time, these same farmers viewed the Extension Service as an important educational provider. Research was conducted to identify the perceptions of beginning farmers toward education, educational providers, and educational media. A sample of beginning farmers was surveyed in 1997. This study revealed they prefer on-site educational instruction, single meetings, community-based education, and were “neutral” (had no opinion) about the future usefulness of cutting-edge technologies as a delivery method. The results of this study should be useful to educational providers who plan and deliver education to beginning farmers

Which Swine Production System for You?

Pork plays a major role in Iowa\u27s agricultural economy and is likely to do so in the future, this study shows. However, there\u27s no one system of pork production that is ideal for all conditions

Beyond convergence rates: Exact recovery with Tikhonov regularization with sparsity constraints

The Tikhonov regularization of linear ill-posed problems with an $\ell^1$ penalty is considered. We recall results for linear convergence rates and results on exact recovery of the support. Moreover, we derive conditions for exact support recovery which are especially applicable in the case of ill-posed problems, where other conditions, e.g. based on the so-called coherence or the restricted isometry property are usually not applicable. The obtained results also show that the regularized solutions do not only converge in the $\ell^1$-norm but also in the vector space $\ell^0$ (when considered as the strict inductive limit of the spaces $\R^n$ as $n$ tends to infinity). Additionally, the relations between different conditions for exact support recovery and linear convergence rates are investigated. With an imaging example from digital holography the applicability of the obtained results is illustrated, i.e. that one may check a priori if the experimental setup guarantees exact recovery with Tikhonov regularization with sparsity constraints

A Risk-Return Analysis For The Midwest Farmer-Feeder

Risk has always been an important dimension of the agricultural sector, and considerable effort has been expended to incorporate risk dimensions in decision models for the farm firm. With the dramatic fluctuations in commodity prices of the 1970\u27s, the Midwest farmer has been confronted with increasing risk, particularly if cattle feeding has been a part of his farm organization. Fluctuations in feed costs, feeder cattle and fed cattle prices have resulted in wide variations in profit per head. In addition, new technology in feeding systems and housing is available and feeders must decide if that technology is feasible and if it should be adopted

UTS WIL Quality Framework

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is a key component of the UTS Strategy and strengthens the idea of the civic university evidenced in UTS 2027 with strategic external partnerships, excellence in Indigenous higher education and commitment to social justice as well as personalised learning, lifetime of learning, the UTS Model of Learning and Learning.Futures. WIL is a vehicle to engage in public and private sector and community partnerships, design real-world relevant courses, prepare educated future professionals and strengthen graduate employability

UTS WIL Quality Framework

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is a key component of the UTS Strategy and strengthens the idea of the civic university evidenced in UTS 2027 with strategic external partnerships, excellence in Indigenous higher education and commitment to social justice as well as personalised learning, lifetime of learning, the UTS Model of Learning and Learning.Futures. WIL is a vehicle to engage in public and private sector and community partnerships, design real-world relevant courses, prepare educated future professionals and strengthen graduate employability

Optimal Convergence Rates for Tikhonov Regularization in Besov Scales

In this paper we deal with linear inverse problems and convergence rates for Tikhonov regularization. We consider regularization in a scale of Banach spaces, namely the scale of Besov spaces. We show that regularization in Banach scales differs from regularization in Hilbert scales in the sense that it is possible that stronger source conditions may lead to weaker convergence rates and vive versa. Moreover, we present optimal source conditions for regularization in Besov scales