The Impact of Increased Ethanol Production on Corn Basis in South Dakota

A basis model is used to empirically estimate the impact of ethanol production on the South Dakota corn basis on the district and State levels. Monthly data is used to estimate basis as a function of futures price, supply, demand, storage, and transportation costs. The independent variables used are corn futures prices, corn production, corn usage for ethanol production, corn usage by cattle, Midwest No. 2 Diesel retail sales prices, storage availability, and unit train transportation The regression results show the impact on corn basis varies by district from $0.04 to$0.27 per bushel, with a State impact of $0.24 in 2005. The impact from an additional 40 million gallon per year (MGY) ethanol plant ranges from$0.06 to $0.16 per bushel, with a State impact of$0.03. The impact from an additional 100 MGY ethanol plant ranges from $0.16 to$0.40 per bushel, with a State impact of $0.08.Crop Production/Industries,

Long-term outcome of ten children with opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome

Opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome (OMS) in children is a rare neurological condition with opsoclonus, myoclonus, ataxia and irritability in the first 2 years of life. It can be idiopathic, parainfectious, or paraneoplastic with tumours of the neural crest. Few studies of long-term follow-up after OMS have been published. We investigated the motor, cognitive and behavioural outcome of ten patients (eight girls and two boys) seen between 1987 and 2002. We reviewed the records and reassessed the patients. A ganglioneuroma was found in one patient and a neuroblastoma in another. Tumour resection did not influence the OMS. The age at diagnosis was 10-24months and the follow-up period 1-17years (average 6.5years). The interval between the first signs and symptoms and starting treatment was 2-12weeks: treatment consisted of different immunosupressants. Remission was achieved within 5months in seven, and relapses were present in seven of ten. At follow-up, only one child had mild ataxia. IQ testing was performed in nine with scores below 75 in four and above 85 in four. Attention deficit and visuomotor difficulties led to school problems with special needs, also in those three children with normal IQs. Only two children were attending regular schools. Behavioural problems were reported in seven, and speech difficulties were present in five. In conclusion, the long-term outcome in our patients with OMS was dominated by cognitive and behavioural problems and not by ataxia. Compared with previous reports, our patients were treated earlier. Larger studies and uniform treatment protocols are needed to demonstrate whether early and prolonged immunosupressant therapy has a favourable influence on outcom

Anomalous U(1)′U(1)' and Dark Matter

We have studied the lightest masses in the fermionic sector of an anomalous $U(1)'$ extension of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) inspired by brane constructions. The LSP of this model is an XWIMP (extremely weak interaction particle). We have studied its relic density in the cases in which there is mixing with the neutralinos of the MSSM and in the case in which there is not such mixing. We have showed that this extended model can satisfy the WMAP data. To perform this calculation we have modified the DarkSUSY package.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, proceedings of the RICAP 2011 conferenc

Anomalous metallic state in quasi-two-dimensional BaNiS2_{2}

We report on a systematic study of the thermodynamic, electronic and charge transport properties of high-quality single crystals of BaNiS$_2$, the metallic end-member of the quasi-twodimensional BaCo$_{1-x}$Ni$_x$S$_2$ system characterized by a metal-insulator transition at $x_{cr}=0.22$. Our analysis of magnetoresistivity and specific heat data consistently suggests a picture of compensated semimetal with two hole- and one electron-bands, where electron-phonon scattering dominates charge transport and the minority holes exhibit, below $\sim$100 K, a very large mobility, $\mu_h\sim$ 15000 cm$^2$V$^{-1}$s$^{-1}$, which is explained by a Dirac-like band. Evidence of unconventional metallic properties is given by an intriguing crossover of the resistivity from a Bloch-Gr\"uneisen regime to a linear$-T$ regime occurring at 2 K and by a strong linear term in the paramagnetic susceptibility above 100 K. We discuss the possibility that these anomalies reflect a departure from conventional Fermi-liquid properties in presence of short-range AF fluctuations and of a large Hund coupling.Comment: 21 pages 9 figures (colors

"Vom Lesesaal zum Learning Center" - Ein neues Raum- und Benutzungskonzept an der UB Mannheim

Der traditionelle Lesesaal der Universitätsbibliothek Mannheim ist 2014 in ein modernes Learning-Center umgewandelt worden. Ziel war ein Lernort, an dem Studierende insbesondere für kooperatives, aber auch für informelles Lernen jederzeit eine optimal unterstützende und variable Umgebung mit modernster technischer Ausstattung vorfinden. Der Beitrag beschreibt, wie dies in Raumkonzept, Innenarchitektur, technischer Ausstattung und Serviceangebot umgesetzt worden ist

Decentralized Online Learning in Task Assignment Games for Mobile Crowdsensing

The problem of coordinated data collection is studied for a mobile crowdsensing (MCS) system. A mobile crowdsensing platform (MCSP) sequentially publishes sensing tasks to the available mobile units (MUs) that signal their willingness to participate in a task by sending sensing offers back to the MCSP. From the received offers, the MCSP decides the task assignment. A stable task assignment must address two challenges: the MCSP's and MUs' conflicting goals, and the uncertainty about the MUs' required efforts and preferences. To overcome these challenges a novel decentralized approach combining matching theory and online learning, called collision-avoidance multi-armed bandit with strategic free sensing (CA-MAB-SFS), is proposed. The task assignment problem is modeled as a matching game considering the MCSP's and MUs' individual goals while the MUs learn their efforts online. Our innovative "free-sensing" mechanism significantly improves the MU's learning process while reducing collisions during task allocation. The stable regret of CA-MAB-SFS, i.e., the loss of learning, is analytically shown to be bounded by a sublinear function, ensuring the convergence to a stable optimal solution. Simulation results show that CA-MAB-SFS increases the MUs' and the MCSP's satisfaction compared to state-of-the-art methods while reducing the average task completion time by at least 16%

Phase behavior of hard spheres confined between parallel hard plates: Manipulation of colloidal crystal structures by confinement

We study the phase behavior of hard spheres confined between two parallel hard plates using extensive computer simulations. We determine the full equilibrium phase diagram for arbitrary densities and plate separations from one to five hard-sphere diameters using free energy calculations. We find a first-order fluid-solid transition, which corresponds to either capillary freezing or melting depending on the plate separation. The coexisting solid phase consists of crystalline layers with either triangular or square symmetry. Increasing the plate separation, we find a sequence of crystal structures from n triangular to (n+1) square to (n+1) triangular, where n is the number of crystal layers, in agreement with experiments on colloids. At high densities, the transition between square to triangular phases are intervened by intermediate structures, e.g., prism, buckled, and rhombic phases.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte