Raw product value of vegetables for processing in the Northwest used to be established by a competitive market involving proprietary processors and growers. Due to the relocation of proprietary processors to the Midwest, this competitive market has eroded forcing cooperative processors to seek other means to set raw product values. In the absence of a competitive market for raw product, cooperatives must rely on an average of last year's prices paid by processors in a given region to value raw product. This method of lagged averages may be resulting in misallocated contracted acreage to grower-members of cooperatives, and inappropriate production levels of the processed good given market conditions. Therefore, the principal objective of this research is to develop and evaluate alternative methods of forecasting raw product value. Since the market for processed vegetables at the retail level is competitive, one alternative method employed was to use a forecast of supply and determinants of demand affecting retail price to forecast raw product value. These explanatory variables were regressed against raw product values of various crops obtained from a northwest processing and marketing cooperative. The raw product values were expressed as net returns/acre to the crops under investigation. The estimated equations, which had adjusted R²'s ranging from .267 to .851, were used to forecast raw product value. A second forecasting method investigated in this study was an exponential smoothing model. Raw product value forecasts were generated over two different time horizons, identified by the cooperatives' accounting procedures. The two alternative forecasting methods were compared to each other, and to the method currently in use by the cooperative, with the aim of determining the most accurate forecasting technique. Results showed that both the econometric and smoothing approaches fit the data better over the estimation period than did a naive lagged price estimate resembling the present method in use by the cooperative. The econometric method also fit the data better than did the smoothing approach. The econometric model provided poor forecasts for the longer forecast horizon, but proved to be effective in the shorter. The smoothing technique forecasted more effectively in the longer forecast horizon as compared with the shorter. These results suggest the importance of the forecast horizon in determining the more appropriate forecasting technique. Both forecasting techniques proposed in this study produced forecasts which were more accurate than the cooperative's present method at least half of the time. This suggests that viable alternatives to the present method of establishing raw product value exist for agricultural cooperatives. / Graduation date: 1986

No description available.

This thesis explores how locally-constructed agency, based on what we really care about, can be developed within and thence beyond localities. At issue is the need for new forms of connectedness and belonging in the globally-based network society. Globally-based communications and media technologies create new networks and mobilities that stretch and fragment existing socio-economic, administrative and ecological systems and with this, older, local and national forms of sociality. Such social upheavals are apt to drive people into defensive and divisive "us" against "them" forms of belonging. Local communities are then called on almost daily to fix these problems, but scarcely exist as connected effective agents on their own account. The thesis examines how official institutions (policy and academic) can help undo one-way global-local flows, by supporting new forms of local-local and local-through-to-global agency. A transdisciplinary methodology, developed in this thesis, performatively demonstrates productive, new local-academic-policy connections. Research included a fully participatory process that blends theoretical concepts (social, aesthetic, literary and film), with film and interactive technologies. A microcosm or simulation of locality was created through DVD film and an interactive research website. Through the shared use of screen interfaces, over one hundred co-detectives or co-researchers from hugely diverse backgrounds collaborated to search for, help reveal, and test out ways that local inhabitants could more effectively connect and co-create a filmed narrative of the kind of place that all would like to inhabit. A "network locality" development narrative is here piloted as a counterpoint to the global network society. Based on inclusive co-construction of locally grounded technology - and aesthetic-based communities - new possibilities of belonging around engagement in locally grounded civic-cosmopolitan projects are demonstrated.

Gottfredson and Hirschi's A General Theory of Crime (1990) motivated much research on the concept of self-control and its relationship to crime, delinquency, and deviant behavior. Although researchers are aware of this theory's contribution to criminological research, some confusion about the exact nature of the relationship between self-control and criminal behavior (as specified by Gottfredson and Hirschi) remains. To clarify this relationship, the assumptions most vital to the theory are explained. One theorem derived from these assumptions regards the role of opportunity in deviant behavior. Gottfredson and Hirschi clearly posit opportunity as a necessary but not sufficient condition for criminal (and analogous non-criminal) behavior to occur. The precise role of opportunity in self-control theory, however, is somewhat unclear in Gottfredson and Hirschi's work. The present work clarifies this element of opportunity, searches for a measure of self-control that is opportunity free, and addresses the relationship between this type of measure and delinquent behavior using data from the National Youth Survey. The role of opportunity in this theory is clarified using gender differences in delinquent behavior as a tool for separating the components of opportunity. Using gender differences in several delinquent behaviors, the existence of the two components of opportunity (one inherent in the act and one inherent in the actor) is confirmed. After establishing these elements of opportunity, gender differences are used to facilitate the search for a measure of self-control that is distinct from both. This attitudinal measure raises the issue of the role of attitudes in Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory. The final analysis focuses on the relationships between attitudes (both children's and parent's) and children's delinquent behavior. Log-linear models are used to specify the structures of these relationships, which are complimentary to Gottfredson and Hirschi's assumptions regarding social norms, parental influence on children's value systems, and an individual's ability to engage in behaviors that they realize are inappropriate.

Evidence Based Librarianship (EBL) seeks for and promotes the improvement of the librarian practice through the use of the best available evidence. Strongly used in medical contexts, Evidence Based Practice can be an important tool for the development of LIS, if practice is carefully thought and wisely combined with research and theoretical reflection. In order to achieve a state of equilibrium between theories and empirical studies, a qualitative method –action research- may be applied, as a dialogue between abstract ideas and the facts and signs provided by concrete experiences. Through action research, librarians can collect the evidence –using a series of qualitative tools- and use it for building theoretical knowledge in order to improve their work and their profession. From this viewpoint, after putting something into practice they will be able to know whether it worked as expected or not, make any change if it is necessary, and test the whole process again, searching more and new evidence. The method becomes a progressive helix that leads librarians to continuously evaluate their activities and services and improve them according of their final users’ needs. Fitting these ideas in the general context of “Library 2.0” new LIS model and in the particular situation of Social Sciences libraries, the conference briefly introduces some basic ideas on how action research should be employed for collecting and using evidence in LIS.

Traditional counting of tree rings between fire scars to establish a fire history is examined for a better understanding of factors influencing fire scar formation and wound healing. The problem of dating fires which burn prior to or after the period of cambial activity is emphasized. A methodology for fire history studies based on fire scar and tree-ring analysis developed by Arno and Sneck (1977) is reviewed and elaborated upon. The importance of crossdating, height of sample cross sections, and problems associated with the extrapolation of data are discussed. Ongoing research involving the examination of the mineral concentration of tree rings and the presence of traumatic resin canals as markers of past fires is reviewed.

Purpose: This article is an overview of scholarly monographs on rock music from 1980 to the present. It provides an overview to the literature for practical purposes of collections development as well as giving the reader insight into key issues and trends related to a interdisciplinary topic that attracts scholars from many disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Design/methodology/approach: This bibliographic essay, focusing on works related to American culture and of a general nature, includes an overview and historical background; a discussion of how music and ethnomusiciological scholars approach the topic; geographic approaches; literature on four key icons (Elvis, Dylan, Springsteen, and Madonna); American studies; subcultures and genres; other methodologies; and concludes by discussing notable recent works. Findings: The scholarly literature on rock incorporates a wide variety of approaches and methodologies. Many music-related scholars appropriate methodology from other disciplines and some non-music-related scholars use the formalistic analysis of music scholars. Authenticity is a major theme in the literature on rock. Originality/value: This essay covers the widest range of monographs on the topic, providing insight into not only the key scholars but also the diversity of approaches to the topic. The historical approach to the literature gives the reader a sense of how the academic discourse on rock has evolved. This essay is of interest to librarians, scholars of rock music, and others concerned with how American scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences has grown since the advent of cultural studies.

This study investigated the use of systems development methodologies in Web-based application development in South Africa. Web-based systems differ from traditional information systems by integrating different media for knowledge representation and utilizing hypertext functionality. By doing this, Web-based systems not only support creation, integration, analysis, and distribution but also storage and transfer of knowledge of business transactions within a structured information system. There are numerous methodologies available to develop Web-based systems. In this study five of these methodologies were discussed. The methodologies include Web IS Development Methodology (WISOM), Internet Commerce Development Methodology (ICOM), Web Engineering, Extreme Programming and the Relationship Management Methodology (RMM). In this study a qualitative research approach was followed. Case studies were done on three different organizations in the South African marketplace. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection at each organization. The interviews were transcribed, and the data were analysed using content analysis and cross-case analysis. One of the main goals of this research was to determine "how" system development methodologies are used in practice to develop Web-based systems, and to what extent it is used. The research pointed out that those organizations who participated in this study in South Africa mainly use in-house developed methodologies to develop Web-based systems, and that these organizations adhere strictly to their methodology. The main reasons organizations choose to use methodologies are that methodologies aid in the delivery of a better quality Web-based system, and also act as a good project management mechanism within the organization. / Thesis (M.Com. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

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This thesis provides a critical understanding of the size and relative position of the Cornish in Cornwall, a county in the south-west of the UK. Cornwall is a region which has experienced increased levels of disadvantage for a prolonged period of time. The indigenous people, whilst seeing a rise in their inclusion in ethnicity variables in the region, have remained under-researched in terms of their socio-economic position relative to the non-Cornish in the same geographic area. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature and represents the first in-depth examination of the group. The 2001 Census included an option to ‘write-in’ a Cornish ethnic identity, however whilst accurate in the responses it recorded the result was almost certainly an under-enumeration due to the lack of a dedicated tick-box selection. This thesis is a rigorous examination of the Cornish, starting with these data, estimating their size and socio-economic position (in terms of social exclusion) relative to non-Cornish individuals. Three stages of primary analysis sought to; analyse, adjust and extend the 2001 Census result to broadly estimate the size, links with exclusion and the causal processes behind these links. Firstly, an accurate picture of the size of the Cornish population was estimated using an innovative weighting strategy, developed to collate all other data referring to the Cornish and to derive weights for application to the raw Census data. Secondly, a stage of primary survey research examined this group more directly for links with social exclusion factors; and thirdly, a stage of qualitative interviews with knowledgeable individuals in the region lent depth to the findings and provided a more coherent explanatory framework. The results indicate that the Cornish are certainly more numerous than the 2001 Census had indicated. The proportion of individuals self-identifying as Cornish is likely to be closer to a quarter of the population rather than the 6.7% indicated in the 2001 ii data. There was some discrepancy in the data between the belief amongst the group of social exclusion and the reality. In order to explain the discrepancy, a model was used which explores the difference between personal-level experience and group level discrimination (Taylor et al 1990). The results of this thesis highlight the complex and multi-dimensional processes inherent in, firstly, the methodological and practical process of ethnicity measurement and, secondly, its use as an explanatory variable for social exclusion experience. Overall, this thesis represents the first and most comprehensive examination of the indigenous people of Cornwall and their relative lived experience compared to non-Cornish in the same area.