Evaluating the Competitive Yardstick Effect of Cooperatives on Imperfect Markets: A Simulation Analysis

Agribusiness,

"Financial Development and Economic Growth in Transition Economies: Empirical Evidence from the CEE and CIS Countries"

We examine the role of financial development in economic growth in the former Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States during the first two decades since the beginning of transition. These countries, which had undeveloped financial systems under Communism, provide an interesting test of the relationship between financial development and growth. We show that credit to the private sector had a positive effect on growth in these countries; however, high levels of inflation can render the positive effect of private credit insignificant. High interest rate spreads and reduced banking competition hampered economic growth.transition economies, CEE, CIS, financial sector development, economic growth, panel data

A Crack In Everything

Contained herein is a close examination of self-awareness and self-portraiture as it applies to the works of artist Jeffrey Hoffman. Water, frozen into various forms and combined with natural elements of wood, slowly melt over an indeterminable amount of time, each droplet documented as the process transforms the elements. Through this process, we see change. We see time. We see truth. This documentation of change and time through natural elements is where the artwork comes full circle. Working with new media to explore man\u27s interconnectivity to life, energy, and the cosmos, he produces time based installations, photographs, videos, and sculptures that serve as both existential metaphors and Tantric symbols. With the use of digital cameras and video, a record is created by which the disintegration which occurs from the unseen forces of gravity, heat and time upon sculptures made from natural elements and ice is examined. In its sculptural form, his work can be categorized as Installation art and Performance art due to its evolving nature. Each piece is intended to either change over time or to have that change halted by another temporal force like that of flowing electricity. The possibility of allowing varying levels of self-awareness to emerge through self portraiture is also examined. The existential, as well as the metaphysical, can be present in a physical form when the form is imbued with evidence of an evolutionary process. In many ways, the work serves as a self portrait. It is a means for Hoffman to examine his own existentialism as a student of the modern western world and life

Fat Fisher Zeroes

We show that it is possible to determine the locus of Fisher zeroes in the thermodynamic limit for the Ising model on planar (``fat'') phi4 random graphs and their dual quadrangulations by matching up the real part of the high and low temperature branches of the expression for the free energy. The form of this expression for the free energy also means that series expansion results for the zeroes may be obtained with rather less effort than might appear necessary at first sight by simply reverting the series expansion of a function g(z) which appears in the solution and taking a logarithm. Unlike regular 2D lattices where numerous unphysical critical points exist with non-standard exponents, the Ising model on planar phi4 graphs displays only the physical transition at c = exp (- 2 beta) = 1/4 and a mirror transition at c=-1/4 both with KPZ/DDK exponents (alpha = -1, beta = 1/2, gamma = 2). The relation between the phi4 locus and that of the dual quadrangulations is akin to that between the (regular) triangular and honeycomb lattices since there is no self-duality.Comment: 12 pages + 6 eps figure

A sub-scale investigation of automobile drag and lift interference in a 3/4- open jet wind tunnel

The motivation for this study comes from the fact that aerodynamic interference is present in all wind tunnels. Here, aerodynamic interference is taken to be the deviation between the true result—which can only be estimated—and the actual result obtained from the wind tunnel. Because interference effects give rise to errors in wind tunnel simulation, they are an impediment to aerodynamic correlation of any new wind tunnel. Correction methods for interference effects have been most thoroughly investigated and, as a result, are best understood for solid wall test sections. Unfortunately, solid wall wind tunnels devoted to full-scale automotive testing have to be very large (test section areas of approximately 500 ft2 or larger) to hold the simulation error to correctable levels. For open jet test sections, which have traditionally been the choice of the European community for aerodynamic testing, interference effects have never truly been quantified. Only in recent years have open jet test sections become a popular choice for aerodynamic test facilities in North America. The cumulative result is that open jet aerodynamic interference is poorly understood

Evaluation of fiber composite and stainless steel as alternative dowel bar material

Dowel bars are used to transfer loads between adjacent pavement sections within a jointed concrete pavement. Epoxy coated steel is the most common material used for dowel bars, but steel dowel bars have been found to be susceptible to corrosion. The objectives of this research is to investigate fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) and stainless steel as alternative dowel bar materials, and to study the effects of FRP and stainless steel dowels size and spacing on load transfer behavior of concrete pavements. The load transfer behavior of the pavement was evaluated biannually by utilizing a falling weight deflectometer (FWD), measuring joint faulting and joint opening, and conducting a visual distress survey. The analyses indicate the epoxy coated steel outperformed the alternative materials. The average research lifetime load transfer for the epoxy coated steel is 91 percent, while the best performance of the alternative material at the same 12 inch on center spacing is approximately 87 percent for the stainless steel. The data also indicate the decrease in spacing, from 12 to 8 inches, increases the load transfer for stainless steel and 1.5 inch diameter FRP dowels. Although the FRP dowels with decreased spacing were outperformed by the epoxy coated steel dowels, they performed adequately. It is recommended that the current dowel bar standard continue to be implemented for concrete pavements requiring dowels as load transfer devices. However, if the pavement is to be constructed in a corrosive environment or a longer design life is desired, stainless steel spaced at 12 inches and 1.5 inch diameter FRP dowels spaced at 8 inches should be considered

Dynamics of elastocapillary rise

We present the results of a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of the surface-tension-driven coalescence of flexible structures. Specifically, we consider the dynamics of the rise of a wetting liquid between flexible sheets that are clamped at their upper ends. As the elasticity of the sheets is progressively increased, we observe a systematic deviation from the classical diffusive-like behaviour: the time to reach equilibrium increases dramatically and the departure from classical rise occurs sooner, trends that we elucidate via scaling analyses. Three distinct temporal regimes are identified and subsequently explored by developing a theoretical model based on lubrication theory and the linear theory of plates. The resulting free-boundary problem is solved numerically and good agreement is obtained with experiments

Exploring development of leadership capacities in undergraduate nursing students through transformative learning: a narrative review

Transformative learning (TL) is seen as an instructional reform in health professions education to develop leadership capacities and eventually produce change agents. This article explores the development of leadership capacities of nurse practitioners at an undergraduate level through TL practices. This exploration is based on an exploratory narrative review of literature on TL and leadership capacities. The potential contribution of this exploration of literature can be to raise consciousness among nursing academics about TL with the aim of engendering leadership capacities in their students. This article therefore poses the following question: What is TL and how can it be utilised in the development of leadership capacities in undergraduate nursing students? TL is an adult learning theory that involves an ongoing dialogical process towards self-actualisation and social empowerment of others. It proposes that human beings should expand their consciousness through critical reflection and discourse and, more importantly, act on the new assumptions and perspectives they attain. The preliminary review suggests that TL practices can be used to cultivate leadership capacities in undergraduate nursing students. It is proposed that application of the principles of TL theory be translated into an empirical study to provide evidence-based guidelines on developing leadership capacities in undergraduate nursing students.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Identification of an Actin-Based Antidiabetic Action of Chromium in Skeletal Muscle

poster abstractWe recently demonstrated that cortical filamentous actin (F-actin) loss contributes to cellular insulin resistance induced by hyperinsulinemia. New animal and human analyses suggest a similar loss of F-actin is present in insulin-resistant skeletal muscle and results from cellular cholesterol accrual. Interestingly, we found that chromium picolinate (CrPic), a dietary supplement recognized to improve insulin action, lowers plasma membrane cholesterol in cultured adipocytes. Understanding whether CrPic can improve F-actin structure in insulinresistant skeletal muscle via lowering membrane cholesterol is not known, yet significant, as skeletal muscle is responsible for a large majority of insulin-stimulated glucose transport. In L6 myotubes stably expressing the insulin-responsive glucose transporter GLUT4 carrying an exofacial myc-epitope tag, acute insulin stimulation (20 min, 100 nM) increased myc-epitope labeling at the surface of intact cells by ~2-fold (P<0.05). In contrast, the ability of insulin to stimulate this process was inhibited 25% (P<0.05) by sustained exposure of L6 myotubes to insulin (12 h, 5 nM). Defects in insulin signaling did not readily account for the observed disruption. However, we found that insulin-induced insulin-resistant myotubes displayed a 28% elevation (P<0.05) in membrane cholesterol with a reciprocal 14% loss (P<0.05) in F-actin. This cholesterol/actin imbalance and insulin/GLUT4 dysfunction was corrected by the cholesterollowering action of CrPic. Mechanistically, CrPic increased the activity of the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Tests also revealed that other well-recognized activators of AMPK (e.g., AICAR, DNP) lowered membrane cholesterol and that, in a fashion similar to that witnessed for CrPic, improved regulation of GLUT4 in insulin-induced insulin-resistant myotubes. These data, as well as findings from ongoing siRNA-mediated AMPK knockdown experiments, are consistent with AMPK mediating its antidiabetic action by lowering cellular cholesterol. We predict that chromium, via AMPK activation, protects against cholesterol accrual that induces skeletal muscle F-actin loss and insulin resistance

Method for Rapid Interplanetary Trajectory Analysis using ΔV Maps with Flyby Options

This paper develops a convenient tool which is capable of calculating ballistic interplanetary trajectories with planetary flyby options to create exhaustive V contour plots for both direct trajectories without flybys and flyby trajectories in a single chart. The contours of V for a range of departure dates (x-axis) and times of flight (y-axis) serve as a “visual calendar” of launch windows, which are useful for the creation of a long-term transportation schedule for mission planning purposes. For planetary flybys, a simple powered flyby manoeuvre with a reasonably small velocity impulse at periapsis is allowed to expand the flyby mission windows. The procedure of creating a V contour plot for direct trajectories is a straightforward full- factorial computation with two input variables of departure and arrival dates solving Lambert's problem for each combination. For flyby trajectories, a “pseudo full-factorial” computation is conducted by decomposing the problem into two separate full- factorial computations. Mars missions including Venus flyby opportunities are used to illustrate the application of this model for the 2020-2040 time frame. The “competitiveness” of launch windows is defined and determined for each launch opportunity