Book review: grand pursuit: the story of economic genius.

Sylvia Nasar’s tour through the past 170 years of economic history introduces the reader to a dozen of the discipline’s most important figures, an equally compelling supporting cast, and the key economic events which shaped them, finds Garrick Hileman.

Software development for the VLA-GDSCC telemetry array project

Software for the VLA-GDSCC Telemetry Array (VGTA) Project is being developed in a new manner. Within the Radio Frequency and Microwave Subsystems Section, most microprocessor software has been developed using Intel hardware and software development systems. The VGTA software, however, is being developed using IBM PCs running consumer-oriented software. Utility software and procedures have been generated which allow the software developed on the IBM PCs to be transferred and run on a multibus 8086 computer

Analysis of the relationship between performance measures and sale price among Angus bulls from two different bull providers

The objective of this study was to determine the relationships of sale price to EPD, Angus Dollar Value Indexes, and actual measurements among Angus bulls of two different seedstock bull providers. Data were obtained from Gardiner Angus Ranch, Ashland, Kansas, for years 2000-2006 on 815 Angus bulls and from the Wardensville bull test, Wardensville, West Virginia, for years 2001-2005 on 357 Angus bulls. Expected progeny differences (EPD) for birth weight (BW EPD), weaning weight (WW EPD), yearling weight (YW EPD), maternal milk (MM EPD), yearling height (YH EPD), scrotal circumference (SC EPD), intramuscular fat (IMF EPD), ribeye area (REA EPD), and rib fat (RBFT EPD) were obtained along with Angus Dollar Value Indexes for Weaned Calf Value ({dollar}W), Feedlot Value ({dollar}F), Grid Value ({dollar}G), and Beef Value ({dollar}B). Actual measurements for average daily gain (ADG), rump fat (Rmpft), rib fat (Ribft), ribeye area (REA), intramuscular fat (IMF), adjusted yearling weight (AdjYW), and bull sale price were obtained as well. Data from Gardiner Angus Ranch were used as a means of comparison between a state bull test station and an established elite seedstock provider.;Keywords. Bull, Performance, Sale price, Model

Time lags in the impact of public investment in water resources: The Tennessee Valley Region, 1936-1968

The purpose of this study was to investigate the time dimension of the impact of public investment in natural resources upon the economy of urban centered areas. The specific objectives were; (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of estimating distributed lag functions as a technique for studying the time lag associated with the economic impact of public investment in water resources; and (2) to estimate the distribution over time of the impact of investment in water resources upon the economy of urban centered areas by estimating a rational distributed lag function. The procedure followed was to estimate parameters for a model relating income in urban centered areas to agricultural employment, nonagricultural employment, the national employment rate and annual public investment in water resources. Separate estimations were made using two different measures of public investment in water resources. Based upon the results of estimates using this income model a second model was developed. The second model related manufacturing employment in the urban centered areas to the national employment rate and the cumulative value of all past public investment in water resources in the respective areas. The economic units of observation were the urban centered areas around Huntsville, Alabama; Paducah, Kentucky; and Asheville, North Carolina. The two measures of public investment in water resources in the income model were annual public investment in dams and steam plants in the respective areas and annual public investment in dams across the entire TVA region. The estimates failed to show any statistically significant or consistent relationship between income in the areas and either measure of public investment. A reasonable distributed lag function was obtained for the Paducah area. The distribution had a mean of 5.3 years and a variance of 31.4 years. It was difficult to interpret the lag distribution since the overall impact of annual investments was so weak. The findings of the income model lead to the rejection of the popular notion that public investment in water resources has significant direct impact on area income as a result of the usual income multiplier effects. An alternative hypothesis was developed that the impact of public investment in water resources resulted in increased social overhead capital and consequent increased flow of services available in the area. To examine this alternative hypothesis the manufacturing employment model was used. Parameters relating manufacturing employment to the cumulative value of public investment in dams and steam plants were quite small. For Huntsville an addition of one million dollars to the cumulative value of public investment in water resources was associated with eight additional jobs in manufacturing; for Paducah, two additional jobs in manufacturing; and for Asheville, one less job in manufacturing. The estimated parameters were statistically significant for Huntsville and Paducah but not for Asheville. Reasonable distributed lag functions were obtained for the Huntsville and Paducah areas in the manufacturing employment model. The lagged impact for Huntsville was slower and more dispersed than for Paducah. The mean lag for the Huntsville area was 8.6 years and the variance of the lag distribution was 78 years. For the Paducah area the mean lag was only 5.2 years and the variance was 32.9 years. The analysis provides the basis for several tentative conclusions which are especially helpful in pointing directions in which further research might be most fruitful. These conclusions are; (1) The impact of public investment in water resources is apparently the result of increased social overhead capital and its consequent increased flow of services rather than regional income multiplier effects of the public expenditure. (2) The complex matrix of factors causing economic advance of urban centered areas is so different for differ-- ent areas that public investment in water resources has different degrees of impact upon the different areas. Also, the time dimensions of the impact for different areas vary rather widely

High Frequency Titrations In Liquid Ammonia

An extensive literature has been established on the use of high frequency conductometric methods in chemical analysis and research. The fact that the instruments respond to chemical changes without having electrodes immersed in the reacting solutions has attracted the attention of many investigators. Until the last few years, practically all of the investigations were concerned with aqueous solutions, with the exception of measurements of dielectric constants. There seemed no logical reason for not extending the use of the high frequency instruments to the study of Bronsted acid-base reactions, organic syntheses, rates of reaction, and the other commonly studied aspects of non-aqueous chemistry. A few early works were published with regard to esterifications and the titration of weak acids in organic solvents; but no extensive reports were forthcoming on the general utility of high frequency titrimetry in non-aqueous systems until the paper of Grove and Jeffrey (1960). Since 1960, an increasing interest has been shown in nonaqueous use of high frequency titrimeters, as well be shown in the next chapter. It seemed only a matter of time until someone would perform the research necessary to allow the use of solvents which could be kept in the liquid state (at atmospheric pressure) only at low temperatures. The classical example of such a solvent is liquid ammonia which boils at -33.4°C., but a great deal of work has been done in other low temperature solvents such as sulfur dioxide, hydrogen cyanide and hydrogen fluoride. A major obstacle to the use of such low temperature liquids with high frequency titrimeters was the lack of a suitable cell; one which could maintain the low temperature necessary to preserve the liquid state for the protracted periods of time required to perform titrations. Thus it was th purpose of the present investigation to develop a cell which would permit the use of high frequency titrimeters for studying low temperature, nonaqueous solvents--specifically ammonia. On the assumption that a suitable cell could be constructed, a further aspiration of the research was to investigate the response of high frequency titrimeters to a sufficient number of liquid ammonia reactions to show that an attractive area of chemical research had been exposed by the development of the cell