Business Commons^™

Producer Long-Term Marketing Opportunities With Ethanol Plants, Austin Harthoorn, Logan Lloyd, Cory Walters, Kate Brooks

Cornhusker Economics

Commodity marketing operates in a complex decision environment with constant information flow, which can conceal long-run financially profitable marketing opportunities for producers. In the corn marketing space, the competitive role of ethanol plants throughout the state may provide producers with long-run financial gains by strategically approaching marketing decisions. In this article, we characterize whether producers can gain financially from strategically marketing corn to ethanol plants. For example, do ethanol plants provide a better long-run return from pre-harvest hedging, spring sale, or harvest sale?

We investigate three important contracting times--forward contract for harvest delivery (called pre-harvest hereafter), harvest delivery, and spring …

Rattus Norvegicus As A Biological Detector Of Clandestine Remains And The Use Of Ultrasonic Vocalizations As A Locating Mechanism, Gabrielle M. Johnston

Master's Theses

In investigations, locating missing persons and clandestine remains are imperative. One way that first responder and police agencies can search for the remains is by using cadaver dogs as biological detectors. Cadaver dogs are typically used due to their olfactory sensitivity and ability to detect low concentrations of volatile organic compounds produced by biological remains. Cadaver dogs are typically chosen for their stamina, agility, and olfactory sensitivity. However, what is not taken into account often is the size of the animal and the expense of maintaining and training the animal. Cadaver dogs are typically large breeds that cannot fit in …

Ireland V. United States: Agricultural And Environmental Sustainability Policies, Lauryn O'Grady

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

The United States and Ireland have varying practices to achieve similar objectives in regard to environmental sustainability. While the European Union has maintained and updated a uniform policy throughout its existence--the Common Agricultural Policy--the United States instead created short-term solutions to a long-term problem. Not only does the United States tend to solve issues in the short-term, the policies between agricultural production and environmental sustainability are not necessarily aligned or remotely relative to the other. While the United States’ new Global Food Security Strategy implements parts of both agricultural and environmental sustainability, much of the history was not based off …

Foreign Ownership Of Agricultural Land In The United States: A Case Study Concerning The 2023 Grassroots Policy And Legislative Landscape, Mary Eichenberger

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

Historically, foreign ownership of land in the United States has existed for centuries. Many state laws expressly allow for foreign ownership of agricultural land in their state. However, this study will find that a push to amend these laws has begun in recent years in state and federal legislatures. Grassroots member-focused agricultural organizations, representative of the agricultural community, have also seen a shift in member-developed policy. This shift is toward an attitude of concern and increased oversight of foreign land investment. From the data gathered, it can be inferred that public awareness in the agricultural community is increasing concerning foreign …

Understanding The Operations And Decision-Making Of Cow-Calf Farmers In Northwest Arkansas, Clayton Weyl

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

Societal pressure on farmers has become a more central part of the rhetoric surrounding livestock production. This study includes farmers in the discourse on the rhetoric surrounding climate change via interviews and simulations tailored to their operation. Previous research has addressed regenerative agricultural practices and conditions that influence farmer decision-making, but little research has analyzed decision-making in tandem with environmental practices. The literature reveals that cow-calf producer decision-making is influenced by their reliance on cattle as an income source, and farmers overall choose climate-friendly practices based on their perceptions about climate change. The goal of this research was to gather …

Effect Of Nanobubble-Oxygenated Water For Irrigation Of Sand-Based Golf Course Putting Greens, Eric Deboer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanobubbles (NBs) are sub-micron, stable cavities of gas. The properties of NBs theoretically allow long bubble residence times and high gas dissolution rates resulting in the supersaturation of oxygen in water. Adequate soil aeration is a constant concern for producers of agricultural and horticultural crops. Because of their unique properties, NBs have been investigated for oxygenating water used in the irrigation of various agricultural and horticultural crops to increase soil oxygen concentration. Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) is the most widely used turfgrass for golf course putting green surfaces. Golf course superintendents use various methods to increase soil oxygen in …

Trace Dna Detection Using Diamond Dye: A Recovery Technique To Yield More Dna, Leah Davis

Master's Theses

This study aspires to find a new screening approach to trace DNA recovery techniques to yield a higher quantity of trace DNA from larger items of evidence. It takes the path of visualizing trace DNA on items of evidence with potential DNA so analysts can swab a more localized area rather than attempting to recover trace DNA through the general swabbing technique currently used for trace DNA recovery. The first and second parts consisted of observing trace DNA interaction with Diamond Dye on porous and non-porous surfaces.

The third part involved applying the Diamond Dye solution by spraying it onto …

Crafting The Brand: Characterizing Consumer Perspective Of Brand Equity Among Microbreweries In Northwest Arkansas, Alyssa Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Craft beer and craft breweries are on the rise across the United States and more importantly, in Arkansas. Throughout the past two decades, craft beer has gained popularity in the state of Arkansas as the number of craft breweries have risen across the state. However, there is currently little literature on how branding in craft breweries in Northwest Arkansas is used to gain and retain loyal consumers. This study aimed to add to the academic literature and provide practical recommendations to practitioners on how brand equity is built among craft breweries in Northwest Arkansas, using qualitative interviews. Marketing strategies of …

Solar Grazing As A Possible Vegetation Management Solution: A Budget Analysis, Byron Louk

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

A growing response to climate change among agricultural producers is to integrate renewable energy production in their portfolio of enterprises. Nonetheless, land use competition for agricultural production and solar energy production exists. To alleviate some of this competition, and possibly generate income for sheep grazers, photovoltaic (PV) system operators may save on operations and maintenance by grazing forages under solar panels rather than using mechanical or chemical means of vegetation management. “Solar grazing” operations have been shown to be economically feasible for PV system operators who own the land and pay for sheep grazing as a method of vegetation management, …

Irrigation-As-A-Service For Smallholder Farmers, Ishani Lal

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Irrigation is a crucial management practice that can help increase food security among smallholders globally while mitigating climate change impacts. High-efficiency irrigation technologies such as drip kits and sprinkler systems are relatively expensive and smallholder farmers cannot afford them to buffer crop yields against low precipitation. In many developing countries, farmers participate in robust informal markets for renting and sharing of irrigation equipment. Such services may be operated by farmers or via a third party such as irrigation start-ups, water user associations, non-governmental organizations, or even government agencies. These services are referred to collectively as Irrigation-as-a-Service (IaaS).

The objective of …

Salivary Microrna As A Concussion Biomarker And The Implications For Athletic Trainers' Practices, Thomas Richard Campbell

Rehabilitation Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Many concussions are sustained globally each year; however, research suggests that a large number may go undiagnosed due to a reliance on subjective information from patients and limitations of current objective measures. Recently, efforts have been focused on identifying clinical biomarkers of concussions, including salivary microRNA (miRNA), to improve healthcare professionals’ concussion management practices. Even if salivary miRNA were shown to be a valid and reliable measure for managing concussions, healthcare professionals, such as athletic trainers (ATs), must be familiar with the tool and have positive attitudes toward the implementation into clinical practice. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was …

Validation Of The Arabic Version Of The Food Safety And Hygiene Questionnaire Among Nutrition Student, Nada El Darra, Dina Cheaib, Leila Itani

BAU Journal - Health and Wellbeing

There is shortage of data on food safety knowledge and practices among Lebanese food handlers due to the lack of a reliable tool. The aim of the current study is to determine the reliability as well as the validity of an adopted Arabic version of the Osaili et al (2013) food safety questionnaire. Translation and back translation and testing equivalence were done using standard accepted procedures. A total of 110 undergraduate Nutrition and Dietetics students completed the questionnaire consisting of five subscales that covers major food safety concepts including personal hygiene, safe storage, cross contamination prevention, knowledge of health problems …

Meeting, Moving, Mastering - A Text Analysis Of The Aesthetic Attractions Of 'Wild Swimming', Dagmar Dahl, Åsa I. Bäckström

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Why are people fascinated by swimming in nature? This article addresses the aesthetic experiences of wild swimming as expressed by five wild swimming authors in their books. Drawing from aesthetic philosophy, we analyze the ways in which the appeal of wild swimming is described on three levels: the allure of water in the environment, the sensory encounter between water and the body, and the experience of moving in water. Furthermore, with reference to Seel’s concept of nature aesthetics (1996), the experience of wild swimming is analyzed in terms of contemplation, correspondence, and imagination. We can conclude that the special intensity …

In This Issue (14:1), Stephen J. Langendorfer Ph.D.

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

In This Issue 14:1 introduces and overviews the research and education articles and position statement associated with the first issue of the fourteenth volume of the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education.

Revisiting The Metaphorical Concept Of “No Strokes First - All Strokes First”: Part One - Beginning Strokes, Robert Keig Stallman Ph.D., Alex Mwaipasi, Ebbe Laakso Horneman, Nils Olof Vikander, Bente Wäinösdatter Horneman Laakso, Haakon-Paavo Laakso Nysted, Toni Ongala

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The aim of this article is to address the familiar question “Which swimming stroke should be taught first?” The discussion is usually focused on breaststroke versus crawl. Provoked by these naïve discussions of which stroke should be taught first (as if stroking equals swimming, which it emphatically does NOT), the question was answered metaphorically in an earlier article “No Stroke First – All Strokes First” (Stallman, 2008a). Here in Part I we identify and describe six strokes, all of which might be a candidate for any learners ‘very first’ stroke. We describe them as beginning strokes. Having identified and learned …

Towards A Globalised Vision Of Aquatic Competence, Rita F. Pinto, Juan Antonio Moreno Murcia

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Human interaction with the aquatic environment has always taken different forms to meet the needs of pleasure, survival, therapy or performance. The diversity of existing aquatic spaces presents itself as a challenge, due to their variety, dynamism, unpredictability and unrepeatable conditions. These factors potentiate an infinite number of possibilities for human response in interaction with the aquatic environment, with aquatic competence being the one that will be able to sustain all types of interaction. Thus, the aim of the proposal has been to present a new approach to the contextualisation of aquatic competence. After a literature review on the concept …

Corn Grain Marketing Strategy Unbiasing For 2023, Matt Stockton, Shannon Sand

Cornhusker Economics

Discusses cognitive biasing errors that may be employed--in the context of corn market strategizing--such as the Dunning-Krueger effect, availability or distancing bias, gambler's fallacy, and anchoring bias.

Environmental And Agricultural Effects On Waterfowl Population In Arkansas, Caleb Sipes, Ellison Stephens, Marissa Young

ATU Research Symposium

This paper discusses some of the positive and negative effects of environmental and agricultural influences on the waterfowl population in the state of Arkansas. Waterfowl hunting has been a prominent source of revenue to the state of Arkansas for many decades. Waterfowl hunting will continue to be prominent in this state in future as long as Arkansans maintain and preserve the natural resources here as well as use our own to further progress the waterfowl industry in Arkansas. Through aerial surveying, requiring hunters to purchase licenses and stamps to legally hunt waterfowl, and conservation efforts from the Arkansas Game and …

Scholars Day 2023 Program Of Events, Carl Goodson Honors Program

Scholars Day

This is the program of events for the 2023 Scholars Day Conference, where undergraduates across disciplines present their scholarly and creative works.

High-Risk Wildlife Strike Regions: An In-Depth Visual Representation Of Wildlife Strikes At And Around Part 139 Airports In Florida., Luke P. Ochs, Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D.

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Wildlife strikes with aircraft have been and continue to be a problem in the aviation industry costing millions of dollars in both damage and delays. This study used the geoprocessing information system ArcGIS to depict wildlife strikes at Florida’s 26 Part 139 Airports from 2012 to 2021. Importing reports from the National Wildlife Strike Database into ArcGIS, this study used symbology and geoprocessing tools to create a color/ size gradient that depicts the risk (number of damaging strikes out of known strikes) at each airport. Using an interactive map with ArcGIS Online viewers can observe then select each airports vector …

School Of Culinary Arts & Food Technology, Tu Dublin Newsletter - Spring Edition 2023, James Murphy

Other resources

The School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology, TU Dublin, Spring Newsletter captured the many events, research, awards, significant contributions and special civic and community activities which the students and staff members of the school across our (3) three campuses have successfully completed up to the Spring period of 2023. The successful completion of these activities would not be possible without the active and on-going support of the 'INSPIRED' friends of Culinary Arts (school supporters), our school's industry association supporters and our school's fantastic academic, laboratory assistants, technical support and administrations teams across our (3) three TU Dublin campuses in …

Things To Consider Before Co-Signing A Loan, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

In the context of family farms, includes some general points to consider before you sign a loan guarantee for a family member who is heavily in debt.

Conclusion: Having to consider whether to co-sign a child's loan is a very difficult situation-no one wants to be part of losing part of the family farm or ranch to loan foreclosure. But if the loan guarantee isn't part of a financial turnaround plan that has at least a fighting chance of success, don't sign the guarantee unless you absolutely don't need the money for your own retirement.

An Exploratory Study Of The Effects Of Aquatic Walking On Function And Muscle Activity In Knee Osteoarthritis: Part 2, John M. Coons, Brandon Grubbs, Conor Theiss, Vaughn W. Barry, Sandra Stevens

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This paper presents Part 2 of a study that investigated the effects of an 8-week (3x/week) underwater treadmill (UT) walking intervention on knee osteoarthritis (KOA) outcomes in 6 adults with KOA (62.7 ± 14.2 years). The Knee Outcome Survey (KOS) for activities of daily living and muscle activity during a 10-m walk and a 20 cm step down were measured before and after the intervention. The following KOS measures improved after the UT walking program (p < 0.05; g > 0.8): stiffness, swelling, weakness, walking, going up stairs, going downstairs, kneeling on the front of the knee, squatting, and sitting with the …

An Exploratory Study Of Aquatic Walking On Symptoms And Functional Limitations In Persons With Knee Osteoarthritis: Part 1, John M. Coons, Brandon Grubbs, Vaughn W. Barry, Ryan T. Conners, Sandra Stevens

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This paper represents Part 1 of a study that explored the effects of an underwater treadmill (UT) walking program on pain and function in adults with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). The Western Ontario & McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), numerical rating scale (NRS), timed up-and-go (TUG), and 10-m walk were assessed in 6 adults (62.7 ±14.2 years) who participated in an 8-week (3x/wk) UT walking intervention based on the Arthritis Foundation’s Walk With Ease (WWE) program. Walking pace was self-selected, and walking duration of each session was increased from 10 to 45 minutes throughout the study. Knee pain and function were …

Volume 9 Full Text, Bjur Staff

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Air Temperature And Diet Are Not Associated With Oxygen Consumption Rate In Banded Crickets, Gryllodes Sigillatus, Nicole Bailey, Connor Oakes, Rachel Sleeth, Mallorie Smith

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

All living organisms acclimate to their environments, with ectothermic species particularly susceptible to environmental change, specifically temperature. Ectothermic insects like crickets directly alter their physiological processes depending on the environment in which they live. Temperature is vital in regulating processes such as metabolism, respiration, and reproduction, among other things. What remains unclear is how a change in the environment, specifically extreme temperature change and dietary alterations, affects physiological processes. In this study, we performed experiments on ectothermic banded crickets to examine the effects of temperature change and the interaction of temperature and diet on oxygen consumption. For both experiments, we …

Effects Of Anthropogenic Noise On Body Mass In Gryllodes Sigillatus, Jessica L. Venturi, Joyce Zheng

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Insects use vibrational structures to produce and sense airborne sounds in intraspecific communication. These signals are important in courtship as well as defensive behavior against predators. For example, insects can detect the presence of nearby predators using vibrations. With an increase in anthropogenic activity, processing these signals and the constant threat they represent may increase stress on insects, subsequently affecting their behavior and physiology. Our experiment was designed to determine whether anthropogenic noise, possibly perceived as a stressor, will decrease the body mass of banded crickets, Gryllodes sigillatus. We predicted that the anthropogenic noise would stress the crickets, leading to …

Truth, Not Accuracy: Native American Fiction Vs. White Settler Colonialism, Charles Democker

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

For centuries, depictions of Native American culture have largely been constructed by White authors and have thus reflected white settler colonialist ideology. This paper suggests that one way to counter this point of view when studying Native American history is to turn to fiction, specifically fiction written by Indigenous authors. Taking as an example Ojibwe author Louise Erdrich’s Plague of Doves, a novel based on the real-life massacre of a frontier family in the late nineteenth century, this paper argues that the creative fiction of Indigenous authors can counter the biased, incomplete, and often incorrect official histories of White–Native interactions. …

Bad Boy Bias: Linguistic Bias In The Law, Parth Sharma

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper seeks to establish and put in use methodology capable of analyzing the significant linguistic bias found within American jurisprudence. It summarizes the limited preexisting empirical work done and adds a new original empirical study on linguistic bias in the courtroom. It examines a large number of cases through various software and examines the prevalence of certain labels (badges of bias). In doing so, this paper seeks to find the most common labels and seeks to determine the amount of emotional variability present within the courtroom. Based on these results, the paper provides recommendations, answering how best to efficiently …

Higher Education Students’ Perceptions Of Online Learning During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Abby O’Bryant

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This article focuses on the impacts of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic on students at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Using survey data (n = 64) and semistructured interviews with currently enrolled students (n = 17), key impacts of online learning on the student body were analyzed. The respondents reported disengagement in lectures, negative impacts on their mental and physical health, negative thoughts about dropping out and transferring, apprehension about the quality of course content, and dissatisfaction with tuition. The paper utilizes qualitative data analysis to report the findings.