SITE-SPECIFIC VERSUS WHOLE-FIELD FERTILITY AND LIME MANAGEMENT IN MICHIGAN SOYBEANS AND CORN

Prior research into variable-rate application (VRA) of fertilizer nutrients has found profitability to be lacking in single nutrient applications to U.S. cereal crops. This study examines the yield and cost effects of VRA phosphorus, potassium and lime application on Michigan corn and soybean farm fields in 1998-2001. After four years, we found no yield gain from site-specific management, but statistically significant added costs, resulting in no gain in profitability. Contrary to results elsewhere, there was no evidence of enhanced spatial yield stability due to site-specific fertility management. Likewise, there was no evidence of decreased variability of phosphorus, potassium or lime after VRA treatment. Site-specific response functions and yield goals might also enhance the likelihood of profitable VRA in the future.Crop Production/Industries,

Empirical Evidence for Collusion in the U.S. Auto Market?

A supergame theoretic price-setting model of collusion is calibrated to data from the North American passenger car market before, during, and after the voluntary restraint arrangements (VRAs) with Japan. Conclusions about whether the model is consistent with the bans from the various regimes depend on assumptions about market structure, demand elasticities, and discount factors. If one believes that the price elasticity of auto demand is about one, for example, then the calibrations suggest that in, the pre-VRA and VRA regimes, only General Motors and Ford could conceivably have colluded, and even this limited potential broke down in the post-VRA regime.

ESTIMATING SITE-SPECIFIC NITROGEN CROP RESPONSE FUNCTIONS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND GEOSTATISTICAL MODEL

Confirming the precision agriculture hypothesis for variable rate nitrogen applications (VRA) is challenging. To confront this challenge, researchers have used increasingly sophisticated statistical models to estimate and compare site-specific crop response functions (SSCRFs). While progress has been made, it has been hampered by the lack of a conceptual framework to guide the development of appropriate statistical models. This paper provides such a framework and demonstrates its utility by developing a heteroscedastic, fixed and random effects, geostatistical model to test if VRA can increase nitrogen returns. The novelty of the model is the inclusion of site, spatial, treatment, and treatment strip heteroscedasticity and correlation. Applied to data collected in 1995 from two corn nitrogen response experiments in South Central Minnesota, results demonstrate the importance of including site, spatial, treatment, and treatment strip effects in the estimation of SSCRFs. Results also indicate a significant potential for VRA to increase nitrogen returns and that these potential returns increase as the area of the management unit decreases. At one location, there was greater than a 95% chance that VRA could have increased profitability if the cost of implementing VRA was less than 14.5 $ha-1. At the other location, if implementation costs were less than 48.3$ ha-1, there was greater than a 95% chance of increased profitability.Crop Production/Industries,

The Voting Rights in Winter: The Death of a Superstatute

The Voting Rights Act (“VRA”), the most successful civil rights statute in American history, is dying. In the recent Shelby County decision, the U.S. Supreme Court signaled that the anti-discrimination model, long understood as the basis for the VRA as originally enacted, is no longer the best way to understand today’s voting rights questions. As a result, voting rights activists need to face up to the fact that voting rights law and policy are at a critical moment of transition. It is likely the case that the superstatute we once knew as the VRA is no more and is never to return. If so, we need to figure out what, if anything, can, will, or should replace it. But before figuring out where to go from here, we need to understand first how we arrived at the moment of the VRA’s disintegration so as not to repeat the mistakes of the not too distant past. In this Article, we argue that the VRA is dying because the consensus over the existence and persistence of racial discrimination in voting has dissolved. From this premise, we outline three paths for the future of voting rights policy: (1) rebuilding a new consensus over the racial discrimination model; (2) forging a new consensus over what we call an autonomy model; or (3) reconceiving voting rights in universal terms

Exploring the Intersection of Dementia and Violence Risk Assessment

This is a mixed-method study exploring Designated Forensic Psychologists’ (DFPs) experiences with the violence risk assessment (VRA) of individuals diagnosed with dementia. DFPs (N = 23, 69.6% female, 87% White) completed an online survey investigating the frequency of VRA and dementia, potential change in VRA method in response to dementia, application of existing VRA instruments, and perceived benefit of tailored guidelines and VRA instruments. Most in this sample (84.2%) endorsed cases involving VRA and dementia that typically comprised 5% or less of lifetime cases. The presence of dementia had a variable impact on the approach to VRA, and thematic analysis revealed that changes in method were related to the clinical interview being impacted, the need for objective cognitive assessment, and increased reliance on collateral records or informants. Sixty-three percent reported using existing VRA instruments with perceived applicability to the population. However, many participants reported being less confident in their evaluations and an overwhelming majority reported perceiving benefit from the development of tailored guidelines or VRA instruments. These results shed light on the importance of future research to investigate the unique needs of this population concerning VRA

Variable Rate Applications in Decision Agriculture

In this chapter, the variable rate applications (VRA) are presented for the field of decision agriculture. The characteristics of VRA control systems are described along with control hardware. Different types of VRA systems are discussed (e.g., liquid VRA systems and dry VRA systems). A case study is also explored in this regard. Moreover, recent advances and future trends are also outlined. Accordingly, a sustainable variable-rate irrigation scheduling is studied where different hardware and software component of the cyber-physical system are considered. Finally, chapter is concluded with a novel sensor deployment methodology

Intergroup conspiracy beliefs and anti-Asian aggression during COVID-19: The role of intergroup emotions, ingroup identification and norms

Although the intergroup-character of conspiracy beliefs has been identified previously, and emotions have recently been found to explain the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and aggression, no study has investigated the role of intergroup-emotions, ingroup norms, and ingroup identification in connection to intergroup conspiracy beliefs (ICB), and verbal racial aggression (VRA) against the Chinese during COVID- 19. Therefore, we examined whether ingroup norms, depending on identification with the Portuguese, moderated the direct association between ICB and VRA. Furthermore, we investigated whether the indirect link between ICB and VRA, via intergroup-emotions was moderated by ingroup identification on Path A, and whether the indirect link was moderated by ingroup norms, depending on identification on Path B. To test these hypotheses, we assessed VRA in a bystander chat-scenario and conducted a mixed experimental/correlational study with 161 Portuguese participants (Mage = 26.2, SD = 9.3). After assessing ICB, intergroup-emotions and identification, participants were randomly assigned to conspiracy-opposing, -supporting, or unrelated ingroup norms. Finally, VRA was assessed. Results revealed that ICB was associated to VRA, but ingroup norms and identification did not moderate this relationship. Further, we found that ICB was associated to negative intergroup-emotions, however, this relationship was not moderated by identification. Moreover, we did find that negative intergroup-emotions were related to VRA and while we did find that ingroup norms and identification moderated the relationship between negative intergroup-emotions and VRA we did not find a moderated mediation. This study provides important insight into the associations between ICB and VRA and the intergroup character of ICB.Prévios estudos focam o carácter intergrupal das crenças conspiratórias e as emoções para explicar ligações entre crenças conspiratórias e a agressão. Porém, nenhum estudo investigou o papel das emoções intergrupais, das normas do endogrupo e da identificação grupal, em relação às crenças conspiratórias intergrupais (ICB), e da agressão racial verbal (VRA) contra os chineses durante a COVID-19. Examinámos se as normas do endogrupo, dependentes da identificação como portugueses, moderavam a associação direta entre ICB e VRA. Investigámos se a ligação indireta entre ICB e VRA, através de emoções entre grupos, era moderada pela identificação grupal no Caminho A, e se a ligação indireta era moderada pelas normas intergrupais, dependendo da identificação no Caminho B. Para tal, avaliámos a VRA num cenário de chat e realizámos um estudo de métodos experimental/correlacional com 161 participantes portugueses (M age = 26,2, SD = 9,3). Avaliamos o ICB, as emoções intergrupais e a identificação. Os participantes foram aleatoriamente atribuídos a conspirações-oposição, -apoio, ou normas de grupo não relacionadas. Finalmente, o VRA foi avaliado. Os resultados revelaram associação da ICB à VRA sem moderação das normas e identificação intergrupais. Além disso, descobrimos associação entre ICB e as emoções intergrupais negativas sem moderação pela identificação. Encontramos, ainda, a relação entre emoções negativas intergrupais e ARV. Também descobrimos que as normas intergrupais e a identificação moderaram a relação entre as emoções negativas intergrupais e a ARV, porém não encontrarmos uma mediação moderada. Fornecemos importantes perspetivas sobre as associações ICB e VRA e o carácter intergrupal do ICB

Raising students’ ethical sensitivity with a value relevance approach

This paper introduces a new approach to raising students’ ethical sensitivity. This new “Value Relevance Approach” (VRA) employs active instructional techniques to demonstrate the costs (benefits) associated with acting in an unethical (ethical) manner. Using a within and between subjects, pre/post-test design, we (1) assess the effectiveness of the VRA in affecting students’ ethical sensitivity and (2) compare the effectiveness of the VRA in affecting students’ ethical sensitivity to that of a traditional learning approach (TLA). The results indicate that ethical sensitivity improves for subjects in the VRA condition and also improves to a greater extent than for subjects in the TLA condition, suggesting that the VRA is more effective than a TLA in promoting ethical sensitivity among students

Estimating the Potential Value of Variable Rate Nitrogen Applications: A Comparison of Spatial Econometric and Geostatistical Models

Site-specific crop response functions (SSCRFs) are useful for estimating the value of variable rate nitrogen applications (VRA), but appropriate statistical models are necessary. Problems estimating SSCRFs using experimental field data include region, spatial, treatment, and strip dependent heteroskedasticity and correlation. We develop a spatial autoregressive error (SARE) model for dealing with these problems and compare results with previous analysis based on a geostatistical (GEO) model. VRA value estimates for the two models differ notably for 1995 data from Southern Minnesota. Furthermore, findings show that the results of a comparison of model performance are location specific.geostatistics, precision agriculture, site-specific crop response functions, spatial autoregressive error, variable rate nitrogen application, Crop Production/Industries,

The Pragmatism of Politics: Senator Norris Cotton and the Civil Rights Legislation in the 1960s

In the mid-1960s, the United States Congress passed two laws that would reshape the course of the history of the United States: the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965. Passed at the height of the Cold War, these laws would be the first major steps toward bringing a close to the civil rights movement. These laws proved to be incredibly divisive for both Republicans and Democrats, but one Republican, Senator Norris Cotton of New Hampshire, stands out. In an analysis of Cotton’s votes againstthe CRA and then forthe VRA, I examine several factors that led President Johnson to push for the passage of both laws, a series of Senator Cotton’s personal records, and Cotton’s memoirs in an attempt to uncover the reasoning behind his two conflicting votes. My analysis includes a specific focus on the pragmatic nature of Cotton’s voting decisions