43 research outputs found
Shape Persistence in Elicited Subjective Crop Yield Probability Density Functions
No full textThe shape persistence of a crop yield probability density function (PDF) was studied by using two variants of the Visual Impact Method (VIM) to elicit subjective estimations by farmers. In one variant ten weights were used to describe the PDF and in the other variant the farmer chose the number of weights. Results were compared directly and by means of Weibull distributions fitting, with evidence being obtained in favor of methodological persistence and the equivalence of the two estimation methods.Subjective crop yield PDF elicitation, Visual impact method, Methodological persistence, Crop Production/Industries,
Elicitation of Subjective Crop Yield PDF for DSS Implementation
No full textThe aim of this research is to establish the persistence of annual crop yield point values subjective estimates, and the coherence and reliability of subjective crop yield probability density functions (PDF) elicited from a series of interviews carried out on a wide group of farmers, and then to determine whether they should be included or not in a decision support system (DSS). Three different elicitation techniques were used: a) The Two Step PDF estimation method b) Triangular distribution c) Beta distribution Although the results are noteworthy, further studies should be carried out to perfect the aforementioned techniques before crop yield PDF's are used in decision making processes.decision support systems, subjective crop yield PDF elicitation, two step PDF estimation method, triangular and beta distributions, Crop Production/Industries,
Shape Persistence in Elicited Subjective Crop Yield Probability Density Functions
No full textThe shape persistence of a crop yield
probability density function (PDF) was studied by using
two variants of the Visual Impact Method (VIM) to elicit
subjective estimations by farmers. In one variant ten
weights were used to describe the PDF and in the other
variant the farmer chose the number of weights. Results
were compared directly and by means of Weibull
distributions fitting, with evidence being obtained in
favor of methodological persistence and the equivalence
of the two estimation methods
Elicitation of Subjective Crop Yield PDF for DSS Implementation
No full textThe aim of this research is to establish the persistence of annual crop yield point values subjective estimates, and the coherence and reliability of subjective crop yield probability density functions (PDF) elicited from a series of interviews carried out on a wide group of farmers, and then to determine whether they should be included or not in a decision support system (DSS). Three different elicitation techniques were used:
a) The Two Step PDF estimation method
b) Triangular distribution
c) Beta distribution
Although the results are noteworthy, further studies should be carried out to perfect the aforementioned techniques before crop yield PDF's are used in decision making processes
Performativities, Virtualities, Abstractions, and Cunningham's BIPED
No full textThis thesis explores the complex relations between subjective perception and dance movements, mainly exemplified by drawing on two short extracts from Merce Cunningham's choreography BIPED (1999). The central aim of the study is to formulate a performative phenomenological inquiry, which moves beyond an identification of essences, and towards an understanding of the lived experience of a dance performance as being grounded on iterations of the "abstract". The concept of the abstract primarily signifies an alternative mode of understanding Henry Bergson's notion of duration. Considering Gilles Deleuze's reading of Bergson's intuition as a method to divide the experience of a lived present into a temporal difference in kind between the virtual and the actual, this thesis suggests a complementary division of duration into virtual and actual kinds of abstraction.
In addition to Bergson's method of intuition, the discussion is phenomenologically rooted in Maurice Merleau-Ponty's concept of the body image and Gaston Bachelards idea of non-causal reverberation. As with the case of intuition, those phenomenological concepts are applied unconventionally. Rather than serving as a pre-objective ontological basis for an analytical and scientific understanding of subjective embodiment, the notion of a reverberating body image is here treated as a form of mimesis, performatively constituted through symbolic and representational practices. Hence, in phenomenological terms, the rationale of the thesis is predominantly sustained by the philosophy of Ernst Cassirer, arguing that reality cannot be approached directly, but only through the concept of the symbol.
The viewpoint from where I speak has performative cybernetic characteristics, continuously and dynamically transgressing boundaries and reconstituting itself through iterative and citational practices. Additionally, as I move between the analytical and the intuitive, as well as between the virtual and the actual, the formal structure of the thesis corresponds to a liminal transformation of the speaking subjectivity
Percepcion por los expertos de la funcion de densidad de probabilidad de los rendimientos de cultivos
No full textEn la literatura sobre determinacion subjetiva de funciones de densidad probabilidad de rendimientos de cultivos, se ha senalado que los agricultores tienden a percibir f.d.p. muy estrechas, un resultado que coincide con el senalado en ortros contextos experimentales. En este trabajo se ha constatdo que investigadores y expertos en produccion vegetal tienen tambien una probre percepcion de la forma de la f.d.p. Esta sesgo en la perception de la f.d.p. sera compartido por agricultores y expertos, estos ultimos con una buena formacion estadistica. Sun embardo ambos grupos realizan in trabajo diario exitoso que implica frecuentemente discriminar entre f.d.p. de rendimientos de cultivos...The literature on the subjective elicitation of crop yield probability density functions points out that farmers have a tendency to perceive very tight PDF, a result which concurs with findings found in other experimental contexts. This study demonstrates that both academic and research experts in plant production have poor perception of what pdf is really like . This bias is shared by farmers and experts alike, the latter with solid statistical background. However, both groups carry out their work every day successfully, despite the fact that it frequently involves the distinction between different crop yield PDF's
Differences in qualitative aspects of broiler meat demand in Spain. Part 1: Home Consumption
No full textTo know the Spanish homes reasons of purchasing broiler meat a survey of 1,000 families, by means of a 13 question interview, was carried out during
2007. After processing the information it was concluded that Spanish families purchase food an average of 2.34 times/week, 95% of which do not exceed 100 € and, with the exception of more than 400 € purchases, in more
than 90% of which broiler meat accounts for more than 14% of the spent budget. Broiler meat is bought near home, in butcher’s shops or supermarkets, with purchases via telephone or the internet being marginal. The main declared benefits of consuming broiler meat
were the low fat content, being a healthy meat, and being proper in a healthy diet. Surprisingly, 72% of interviewees did not see any benefit in chicken meat or did not answer to that question, contrasting with the fact
that only 20% of interviewees admitted low price as a benefit. Most of the Spanish families do not feel influenced by the media and/or advertising campaigns, what would support the hypothesis that they purchase
broiler meat as a “shelter product”, due to its quality and price competitiveness
Differences in qualitative aspects of broiler meat demand in Spain. Part 1: Home Consumption
No full textTo know the Spanish homes reasons of purchasing broiler meat a survey of 1,000 families, by means of a 13 question interview, was carried out during 2007. After processing the information it was concluded that Spanish families purchase food an average of 2.34 times/week, 95% of which do not exceed 100 € and, with the exception of more than 400 € purchases, in more than 90% of which broiler meat accounts for more than 14% of the spent budget. Broiler meat is bought near home, in butcher’s shops or supermarkets, with purchases via telephone or the internet being marginal. The main declared benefits of consuming broiler meat were the low fat content, being a healthy meat, and being proper in a healthy diet. Surprisingly, 72% of interviewees did not see any benefit in chicken meat or did not answer to that question, contrasting with the fact that only 20% of interviewees admitted low price as a benefit. Most of the Spanish families do not feel influenced by the media and/or advertising campaigns, what would support the hypothesis that they purchase broiler meat as a “shelter product”, due to its quality and price competitiveness.Home demand, Broiler, Meat Consumption, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,
Post 1990s Dance Theatre and (the idea of) the Neutral
No full textPhDThe thesis focuses on the concept of neutrality in the works of contemporary
European (post 1990s) choreographers. While broad ideas around neutrality are
considered, the thesis primarily engages with Roland Barthes’ definition of
neutrality as a structural term: 'every inflection that, dodging or baffling the
paradigmatic, oppositional structure of meaning, aims at the suspension of the
conflictual basis of discourse'. I argue that the minimalist work of Judson
Church, New York City, is anticipating the interest in the neutral that will more
strongly formulate itself in dance theatre after the 1990s. In the first chapter on
Jérôme Bel, the concept of neutrality is introduced as a general idea, together with
its inherent problem. The 'problem' is not that this or that element that Bel
chooses cannot be perceived as neutral, but that neutral or stage zero can never be
neutral enough. The second chapter, dedicated to the work of Thomas Lehmen,
explores the idea of 'neutralization' in relation to the notion of the self in
Lehmen's performance, where 'It is not I or you who lives: 'one' (une vie) lives in
us' (P. Hallward). In the third chapter I argue that in Raimund Hoghe’s
performances, love is conceived essentially as a balance between narcissism and
pure object-love – as a neutral state. The fourth chapter, on Croatia’s BADco.,
gravitates around the ways in which group processes function, arguing that the
idea of the neutral is located in the ‘invisible hand’ of emergence. The thesis shifts
academic performance analysis towards a more concept-based approach,
unpicking and/or constructing timeless, abstract and broad concepts and ideas that
the work of these choreographers resonates with
The Prepared Piano Music of John Cage: Towards an Understanding of Sounds and Preparations
No full textThe subject for this thesis is the prepared piano music of John Cage with particular attention focussed on the preparations that create the varying sonic pallets in this music. The thesis is divided into six chapters, each chapter fulfilling one of two tasks. Firstly they will provide for pianists an examination of ways in which Cage‟s instructions in the scores for preparing the piano can be interpreted, and it will highlight the difficulties that become apparent (and should be considered) when performing Cage‟s prepared piano music. The second function to be fulfilled will be to musicologists who wish to trace the development of Cage‟s prepared piano music with relation to his later chance determined music.
Chapter one traces the historical and aesthetic influences that were relevant to Cage in the creation of the prepared piano, and places it in an historical context.
Chapter two looks at John Cage‟s compositions for prepared piano and provide a thorough inventory of John Cage‟s prepared piano pieces. Chapter two also examines the possibilities for making suggestions for the recreation of Cage‟s preparations.
Chapter three examines the physical relationships between piano, strings and preparations.
Chapter four analyses the solo prepared piano pieces and highlights the compositional techniques that Cage used in the composition of the prepared piano pieces.
Chapter five looks at the reasoning for performer choice in relation to ambiguity discussed in chapter three
Chapter six explores the six movement work The Perilous Night, and uses it as a case study to identify and explain all of the issues discussed within this thesis
