The Changing Debt Maturity Structure of U.S. Farms

The objectives of this paper are to examine the debt maturity structure of farm businesses and to investigate the determinants of the farm businesses’ choice of the maturity structure. Based on 2008 ARMS data, our findings indicate that size, asset maturity, financial risk, region, and type of farm operation influenced the debt maturity structure in 2008.Debt maturity structure, farm debt, tobit, Agricultural Finance, G10,

Treatment Outcomes for At-Risk Young Children With Behavior Problems: Toward a New Definition of Success

This study examined the outcomes of Early Pathways (EP), an in-home parent–child therapy program with 447 at-risk children younger than 5 years of age who were referred for severe behavior and emotional problems, such as aggression, oppositional behavior, and separation anxiety. EP emphasized parent-directed training of child behavior strategies including psychoeducation regarding child development, child-led play, and cognitive-behavioral techniques. Outcomes were assessed using a unique 2-dimensional definition of treatment completion, which consisted of treatment duration and an assessment of reliable change for the primary outcome measure of child behavior problems. Results showed that the majority of children (63.4%) met or exceeded treatment completion. In addition, repeated-measures multivariate analyses of variance at pretest, posttest, and follow-up revealed increased child prosocial behaviors, reduced child behavior problems, improved caregiver nurturing, an increase in parents’ developmentally appropriate expectations of children, improved parent–child relationships, and a decrease in clinical diagnoses following treatment. This study offers guidance for developing effective early-intervention services for families in poverty to enhance outcomes for their young children. Along with its existing large-scale, community-based effectiveness studies, future research should establish additional statistical support including a randomized, waitlist control design of EP

Effects of the private-label invasion in food industries

Using supermarket scanner data, we test a variety of hypotheses from trade journals about the invasion of private-label food products. According to conventional industry wisdom, name-brand firms defended their brands against new private-label products by lowering their prices, engaging in additional promotional activities, and increasingly differentiating their products. Our empirical evidence is inconsistent with these beliefs.private label; entry; price; promotional activity; differentiation; supermarket

Simultaneous calculation of the helical pitch and the twist elastic constant in chiral liquid crystals from intermolecular torques

We present a molecular simulation method that yields simultaneously the equilibrium pitch wave number q and the twist elastic constant K2 of a chiral nematic liquid crystal by sampling the torque density. A simulation of an untwisted system in periodic boundary conditions gives the product K2q; a further simulation with a uniform twist applied provides enough information to separately determine the two factors. We test our new method for a model potential, comparing the results with K2q from a thermodynamic integration route, and with K2 from an order fluctuation analysis. We also present a thermodynamic perturbation theory analysis valid in the limit of weak chirality