Prices, Profits, Proxies, and Production

This paper studies nonparametric identification and counterfactual bounds for heterogeneous firms that can be ranked in terms of productivity. Our approach works when quantities and prices are latent rendering standard approaches inapplicable. Instead, we require observation of profits or other optimizing-values such as costs or revenues, and either prices or price proxies of flexibly chosen variables. We extend classical duality results for price-taking firms to a setup with discrete heterogeneity, endogeneity, and limited variation in possibly latent prices. Finally, we show that convergence results for nonparametric estimators may be directly converted to convergence results for production sets.Comment: This paper was previously circulated with the title "Prices, Profits, and Production

Nonlinear Basis Pursuit

In compressive sensing, the basis pursuit algorithm aims to find the sparsest solution to an underdetermined linear equation system. In this paper, we generalize basis pursuit to finding the sparsest solution to higher order nonlinear systems of equations, called nonlinear basis pursuit. In contrast to the existing nonlinear compressive sensing methods, the new algorithm that solves the nonlinear basis pursuit problem is convex and not greedy. The novel algorithm enables the compressive sensing approach to be used for a broader range of applications where there are nonlinear relationships between the measurements and the unknowns

Integration of cool- and warm-season grass pasturing systems into cattle finishing programs

A four-year study, using 116 fall-born calves per year, was conducted to evaluate the integration of intensive stocking of both cool- and warm-season grass pastures with drylot finishing. Four treatments were assigned on May 1st of each year respectively: 1) calves directly into the feedlot (DF); 2) calves stocking bromegrass pasture until early July and then moved to feedlot (JC); 3) calves stocking bromegrass pasture until mid-June at which time they were moved to warm-season pastures, until returned to the cool-season pasture from mid-August to October when they were placed into the feedlot (OW); 4) calves stocking bromegrass pasture until October and then moved to feedlot (OC). Each treatment consisted of 28 calves except for the OW treatment, which had 32 steers while on pasture. Cool-season pastures were divided into 24, 1.7 acre paddocks while the warm-season pastures consisted of 16, one-acre paddocks. Individual steer weights were obtained in 28 day intervals and daily DMI was recorded throughout feedlot finishing. Steers were fed to 1250 lb and harvested at which time carcass measurements were obtained. Treatment did not influence pasture (P\u3e0.97) or feedlot gains (P\u3e0.37) for the JC, OC, and OW treatments. The DF steers had higher overall ADG (PO.001) and lower feedlot daily DMI (P\u3c0.03) compared to the OW treatment. Furthermore, treatment did not have a significant influence on carcass characteristics. Using 10 year averages for purchase price, live and carcass price, and feed ingredient prices, the DF, JC, and OC treatments were the most profitable and the OW treatment was least profitable (P\u3c0.001). These results indicate that both cool- and warm-season pastures, provided to cattle for varying lengths of time prior to feedlot finishing, do not negatively affect carcass composition, and that cattle that are fed on a cool-season pasture is an economical alternative to direct placement of cattle into feedlot finishing programs

A Comparison of the Responses of Children and Their Parents to the Preschool Personality Questionnaire.

The purpose of this study was to establish criterion validity for the Preschool Personality Questionnaire (PSPQ). The PSPQ is a 200-item forced choice, self report inventory for four- through six-year-olds. One hundred and sixty of the items are scored on 14 factor analytically derived scales. The PSPQ is a downward extension of the Cattell-IPAT personality questionnaires. For the study, the PSPQ was administered to 107 children, and predictions of their responses were made by their parents and teachers. The proportion of agreement between parents and children on the individual items was calculated, and compared with the proportion of agreement between randomly matched sets of parents and children. Also, the proportion of agreement between teachers and children, and between parents and children, on special sets of observable items was calculated. In addition correlations between parents and children on the factors were obtained. Finally, an ANOVA was performed to determine if factor scores differed for boys and girls, and if the sex of the test administrator influenced the scores on the factor scales. The results indicated that while parents and teachers had roughly similar ideas about how their children would respond, the children did not in fact, respond as expected. Only one of the scales, based on a masculinity/femininity factor, received substantial support. It was determined that boys and girls scored differently on certain factors, and that the sex of the test administrator was an important consideration. Implications of the findings were discussed

Heat transfer in pulsating flow

M.S.Charles W. Gorto