The Ulysses Supplement to the BATSE 3B Catalog of Cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts

We present Interplanetary Network localization information for 218 gamma-ray bursts in the 3rd BATSE catalog, obtained by analyzing the arrival times of these bursts at the Ulysses and Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) spacecraft. For any given burst observed by these two spacecraft, arrival time analysis (or "triangulation") results in an annulus of possible arrival directions whose half-width varies between 7 arcseconds and 32 arcminutes, depending on the intensity and time history of the burst, and the distance of the Ulysses spacecraft from Earth. This annulus generally intersects the BATSE error circle, resulting in an average reduction of the error box area of a factor of 30.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplemen

AN ANALYSIS OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH IN PORK PRODUCTION

The rapid expansion of large-scale pork production has been accompanied by increasing concerns regarding potential detrimental consequences of environmental hazards on the health of producers. This study makes use of health indicators obtained from attendees at the World Pork Expo between 1991 and 1995 to evaluate the impact of pork production generally and of confinement production, specifically, on producer health. The analysis expands existing studies because the larger number of participants allows for detailed analysis, both nonfarmers and non-pork farmers are used as controls, both objective as well as self-reported health measures are considered, and personal characteristics such as height, weight, age, gender, smoking habits, and years of exposure to confinement operations and swine operations are controlled. The analysis shows that pork producers are more likely to report nagging respiratory symptoms (cough, sinus problems, sore throat) than are other farmers. Confinement operators have increased incidence of some symptoms relative to other pork producers. However, there was no evidence of permanent loss of pulmonary function associated with pork production or confinement operation. Farmers suffered from a greater incidence of hearing loss and loss of dominant hand strength relative to nonfarmers. Pork producers had even greater incidence of lost hand strength than other farmers but had no added incidence of hearing loss. On the plus side, farmers had lower blood pressure than did nonfarmers.

The Interplanetary Network Supplement to the BeppoSAX Gamma-Ray Burst Catalogs

Between 1996 July and 2002 April, one or more spacecraft of the interplanetary network detected 787 cosmic gamma-ray bursts that were also detected by the Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor and/or Wide-Field X-Ray Camera experiments aboard the BeppoSAX spacecraft. During this period, the network consisted of up to six spacecraft, and using triangulation, the localizations of 475 bursts were obtained. We present the localization data for these events.Comment: 89 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie

CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF WAGES IN THE U.S. PORK INDUSTRY

Consolidation in the U.S. pork industry continues to reduce the number of operations, while increasing the demand for hired labor. This paper explores how wages have evolved over time by decomposing the increase in wages into a change in the level of wages, human capital, and returns to human capital.Labor and Human Capital, Livestock Production/Industries,

Development of uniform and predictable battery materials for nickel cadmium aerospace cells Quarterly report, 8 Aug. - 7 Nov. 1968

Sintering of carbonyl nickel powders for nickel cadmium batteries fabricatio

Firm Size, Technical Change and Wages: Evidence from the Pork Sector from 1990-2005

A long-standing puzzle in labor economics has been the positive relationship between wages and firm size. Even after controlling for worker's observed characteristics such as education, work experience, gender, and geographic location, a significant firm size wage effect averaging 15 percent remains. This paper investigates whether the size-wage premium on hog farms persists over time and whether the magnitude is growing or shrinking. The paper pays particular attention to the matching process by which workers are allocated to farms of different size and technology use, and whether the matching process may explain differences in wages across farms. The study relies on four surveys of employees on hog farms collected in 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005. The survey was conducted across the United States. The data allow us to evaluate how farm size and technology adoption have changed over time and how employee pay has changed in response to these changes. Detailed investigations of these pay differences between small and large hog farms and between farms using few and many technologies show that the differences cannot be explained away by differences in the education, work experience, or geographic location of the farm. Although more educated and experienced workers are more likely to work on larger and more technologically advanced hog farms, the positive relationships between wages and both farm size and technology remain large and statistically significant when differences in observable worker attributes are controlled. Furthermore, these effects are reinforcing in that large hog farms also adopt more technologies, and so the firm size effect persists even after differences in the number of technologies are held constant. The size-wage and technology-wage prema have persisted over time, and we cannot reject the null hypothesis that the premia are constant over the sample period.Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,

TeV Burst of Gamma-Ray Bursts and Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays

Some recent experiments detecting very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays above 10-20 TeV independently reported VHE bursts for some of bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). If these signals are truly from GRBs, these GRBs must emit a much larger amount of energy as VHE gamma-rays than in the ordinary photon energy range of GRBs (keV-MeV). We show that such extreme phenomena can be reasonably explained by synchrotron radiation of protons accelerated to \sim 10^{20-21} eV, which has been predicted by Totani (1998a). Protons seem to carry about (m_p/m_e) times larger energy than electrons, and hence the total energy liberated by one GRB becomes as large as \sim 10^{56} (\Delta \Omega / 4 \pi) ergs. Therefore a strong beaming of GRB emission is highly likely. Extension of the VHE spectrum beyond 20 TeV gives a nearly model-independent lower limit of the Lorentz factor of GRBs, as \gamma \gtilde 500. Furthermore, our model gives the correct energy range and time variability of ordinary keV-MeV gamma-rays of GRBs by synchrotron radiation of electrons. Therefore the VHE bursts of GRBs strongly support the hypothesis that ultra high energy cosmic rays observed on the Earth are produced by GRBs.Comment: Final version to appear in ApJ Lett. Emphasizing that the extremely large energy required in this model is not theoretically impossible if GRB emission is strongly beamed. References update

Magnetar-like Emission from the Young Pulsar in Kes 75

We report detection of magnetar-like X-ray bursts from the young pulsar PSR J1846-0258, at the center of the supernova remnant Kes 75. This pulsar, long thought to be rotation-powered, has an inferred surface dipolar magnetic field of 4.9x10^13 G, higher than those of the vast majority of rotation-powered pulsars, but lower than those of the ~12 previously identified magnetars. The bursts were accompanied by a sudden flux increase and an unprecedented change in timing behavior. These phenomena lower the magnetic and rotational thresholds associated with magnetar-like behavior, and suggest that in neutron stars there exists a continuum of magnetic activity that increases with inferred magnetic field strength.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Science. Note: The content of this paper is embargoed until February 21, 200