Comments on the problem of turbulence in aviation

The problem of turbulence since the beginning of aviation is traced. The problem was not cured by high altitude flight and was acerbated by the downbursts associated with thunderstorms. The accidents that occurred during the period 1982 to 1984 are listed. From this is extracted the weather related accidents. Turbulence accounts for 24% of the accidents involving large commercial carriers and 54% of the weather related accidents. In spite of all the efforts to improve the forecasting and detection of turbulence, the problem is still a large one

On Price-Taking Behavior in Asymmetric Information Economies

It is understood that rational expectations equilibria may not be incentive compatible: agents with private information may be able to affect prices through the information conveyed by their market behavior. We present a simple general equilibrium model to illustrate the connection between the notion of informational size presented in McLean and Postlewaite (2002) and the incentive properties of market equilibria. Specifically, we show that fully revealing market equilibria are not incentive compatible for an economy with few privately informed producers because of the producers’ informational size, but that replicating the economy decreases agents’ informational size. For sufficiently large economies, there exists an incentive compatible fully revealing market equilibrium.Rational Expectations Equilibria, Informational Smallness

The Productivity of U.S. States Since 1880

This study identifies the determinants of interstate variation in labor productivity levels at twenty-year intervals between 1880 and 1980. Focusing on fundamental rather than proximate influences, we find that institutional characteristics, physical geography, and resource abundance can account for a high proportion of the differences in state productivity levels. States with navigable waterways, a large minerals endowment, and no slaves in 1860, on average, had higher labor productivity levels throughout the sample period. No consistent support was found for two other influences given prominence in cross-country analyses of differences in incomes or productivity levels: climate and the quality of government.economic growth, productivity levels, slavery, natural resources

The Productivity of U.S. States Since 1880

This study uses state-level variation in labor productivity levels at twenty-year intervals between 1880 and 1980 to examine the relative importance of institutional and geographical influences in explaining observed and persistent differences in standards of living over time and across regions. Focusing on fundamental rather than proximate influences, we find that both institutional characteristics and some physical geography characteristics account for a high proportion of the differences in state productivity levels: states with navigable waterways, a large minerals endowment, and no slaves in 1860, on average, had higher labor productivity levels throughout the sample period. However, we find little support for two other influences that have previously received attention climate and latitude.

Stratigraphy and Site Formation at the Sanders Site (45 KT 315), Kittitas County, Washinton

The Sanders site (45KT315) was excavated in 1971 and 1972 by Central Washington State College under the direction of Dr. William Smith, then Associate Professor of Anthropology at CWSC. A total of 88 1 x 1 meter units were excavated up to 270 cm below surface. During the initial excavations and in subsequent student work, there was investigation of what would now be called site geoarchaeology, but this work was not reported in detail. In this thesis, I synthesize existing records on site stratigraphy and completed new field characterization and laboratory analyses to build a geoarchaeological summary for the site. The site stratigraphy is characterized by episodic deposition and is the result of the interaction of fluvial, aeolian and colluvial processes. Periods of landform stability are marked by soil formation. Sediments preserved on-site appear to contain a relatively complete record of the Holocene, whereas across the creek at 45KT726, the earlier Holocene sediments have been stripped away by fluvial processes. Periods of landform stability and soil formation at Sanders roughly match the alluvial cycles presented for the Fogoil Project on the Yakima Training Center

Kingdom(s) Come: Character Remediations and Polyperspectivity of the Final Fantasy franchise in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II

Over twenty years since its original release, Final Fantasy VII (Square 1987) fans continue to debate the video game’s world and characters as they are mixed and remixed into new licensed products. This article explores the fan metanarrative that circulates the story, ludology, and industry discourses that bind Final Fantasy VII. It will demonstrate how fan practices operate within community spaces to locate, present, and police both knowledge and meanings about a fictional world that itself is continually being reshaped by the transmedia production milieu. This article explores the ongoing fan debates circulating characters Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith from Final Fantasy VII, and their respective remixing into the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Through a discourse analysis (Gee, 2007) of online Western fan bases, published above-the-line production interviews (Mayer et al. 2009), and self-reflexive experiences (Hills 2002), I seek to demonstrate the complexity of fan practices and how they attempt to locate (and generate) narrative coherency. I will argue that fans do not simply enjoy games for their variance in gameplay and story but seek a better understanding of a growing fictional world that is complex and is subject to sanctioned rewrites. Drawing on Eiji Ōtsuka’s theories on world and variation (2010), this article will demonstrate how fans can function as textual barristers in their attempts to untangle the media mix (Steinberg, 2012) of Final Fantasy VII through its ongoing reiterations, adaptations, and world-sharing with Kingdom Hearts