The Burger Court—The First Ten Years

In this report we study estimation of time-delays in linear dynamical systems with additive noise. Estimating time-delays is a common engineering problem, e.g. in automatic control, system identification and signal processing. The purpose with this work is to test and evaluate a certain class of methods for time-delay estimation, especially with automatic control applications in mind. The class of methods consists of estimating the time-delay from the Laguerre transform of the input and output signals. The methods are evaluated experimentally with the aid of simulations and plots of approximation error, plots of original and Laguerre approximated input and output signals, plots of estimates, plots of RMS error, tables of ANOVA and plots of confidence intervals for different cases. The results are: Only certain input signals, e.g. steps, are useful. Systems with a not too fast dynamics give better estimation quality than pure time-delay systems despite the fact that the estimation methods were derived for pure time-delay systems. The Laguerre pole should be chosen in a certain way. The number of Laguerre functions should be as a high as possible

Stated Choice Experiments with Complex Ecosystem Changes: The Effect of Information Formats on Estimated Variances and Choice Parameters

Stated choice experiments about ecosystem changes involve complex information. This study examines whether the format in which ecosystem information is presented to respondents affects stated choice outcomes. Our analysis develops a utility-maximizing model to describe respondent behavior. The model shows how alternative questionnaire formats alter respondents’ use of filtering heuristics and result in differences in preference estimates. Empirical results from a large-scale stated choice experiment confirm that different format presentations of the same information lead to different preference parameter estimates and error variances. A tabular format results in choice parameter estimates with statistically smaller variances than parameters estimated from data obtained with a text-based format. A text-based format also appears to induce greater use of decision heuristics than does a tabular format.choice experiments, heuristics, stated preference, valuation, web surveys, wetland mitigation, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis,

A SPLIT-SAMPLE TEST OF EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS FOR STATED CHOICE MODELS OF ENVIRONMENTAL VALUATION

A stated choice model is used to estimate wetland mitigation preferences. In a split sample mail survey, a main effects design is compared to a randomized design. Although randomized designs estimate main effects less efficiently, several policy relevant interactions were found to be significant, suggesting some merits of randomized designs.Environmental Economics and Policy,

The United States Supreme Court: 1951-1952

NOBODY WILL SAY it was a quiet term. The total number of cases decided was again small, only eighty-nine all told. There was the usual quota of trivia, and maybe a little over; more piddling points on statutes of limitations, for example, than posterity is ever going to want to know about. But there was enough serious national business to make the term memorable. Every region felt the effects; Hollywood won a slight reprieve from censorship, while school children and their teachers in New York got no reprieve at all from school time religious training and loyalty purges, respectively. Illinoisans were warned to hold their tongues if they would disparage groups, Oregon discovered that maltreatment by its medical organizations of experiments in group medicine occurred too long ago to count, and the South postponed for a year any consideration of its basic problem of school segregation. In more international perspective, a Japanese- American traitor and military courts in Germany were subjects of decisions, and aliens within the United States had a murderously bad time with a series of cases reflecting a renewed chauvinism in legislative policy. Finally there was the steel case