An Error-Components Three-Stage Least-Squares Model of Investment Allocation by Farm Households

This paper is an assessment of patterns of investment by farm households via an econometric model adapted from a land allocation approach of Holt (1999). This analysis will shed light on the importance of different classes of assets to farm household well-being, and show the reaction of farm households to a variety of market, international and government effects.Farm Management,

Integrated short and medium term underground mine production scheduling

The development of short- and medium-term mine production schedules in isolation from each other has meant that only a local optimum can be achieved when each scheduling phase is carried out. The globally optimal solution, however, can be achieved when integrating scheduling phases and accounting for the interaction between short-term and medium-term activities simultaneously. This paper addresses the task of integrating short- and medium term production plans by combining the short-term objective of minimizing deviation from targeted mill feed grade with the medium-term objective of maximizing net present value (NPV) into a single mathematical optimization model. A conceptual sublevel stoping operation comprising 30 stopes is used for trialling segregated and integrated scheduling approaches. Segregated medium- and short-term scheduling using separate models achieved an NPV of $42 654 456. The final scheduling approach involved integrating the two scheduling horizons using the newly-developed globally optimal integrated production scheduling model to achieve an NPV of$42 823 657 with smoother mill feed grade. The larger the stope data set, the larger the difference between the two scheduling approaches is likely to be. At the very least, an integrated approach ensures feasibility across the two scheduling horizons, which cannot always be assumed when using a segregated approach

Uniqueness in the Freedericksz transition with weak anchoring

In this paper we consider a boundary value problem for a quasilinear pendulum equation with nonlinear boundary conditions that arises in a classical liquid crystals setup, the Freedericksz transition, which is the simplest opto-electronic switch, the result of competition between reorienting effects of an applied electric field and the anchoring to the bounding surfaces. A change of variables transforms the problem into the equation x = −f(x) for ∈ (−T, T), with boundary conditions x = ± T f(x) at = ∓T, for a convex nonlinearity f. By analyzing an associated inviscid Burgers' equation, we prove uniqueness of monotone solutions in the original nonlinear boundary value problem. This result has been for many years conjectured in the liquid crystals literature, e. g. in E. G. Virga, Variational Theories for Liquid Crystals,Chapman and Hall, London, 1994 and in I. W. Stewart, The Static and Dynamic Continuum Theory of Liquid Crystals: A Mathematical Introduction, Taylor and Francis, London, 2003

RF and data acquisition systems for Fermilab's ILC SRF cavity vertical test stand

Fermilab is developing a facility for vertical testing of SRF cavities as part of its ILC program. The RF system for this facility is based on the proven production cavity test systems used at Jefferson Lab for CEBAF and SNS cavity testing. The design approach is modular in nature, using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components. This yields a system that can be easily debugged and modified, and with ready availability of spares. Comprehensive data acquisition and control is provided by a PXI-based hardware platform in conjunction with software developed in the LabView programming environment

Determining the Competitive Edge: Diversified Dairy Production Systems in the United States and the European Union

Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis,

Newly observed two-body decays of B mesons in a hybrid perspective

In consistency with the b --> c type of (quasi) two body decays, recently observed two body decays of B mesons are studied in a hybrid perspective in which their amplitude is given by a sum of factorizable and non-factorizable ones, and a role of the latter in these decays are discussed.Comment: 7 page

Topological Defects and Interactions in Nematic Emulsions

Inverse nematic emulsions in which surfactant-coated water droplets are dispersed in a nematic host fluid have distinctive properties that set them apart from dispersions of two isotropic fluids or of nematic droplets in an isotropic fluid. We present a comprehensive theoretical study of the distortions produced in the nematic host by the dispersed droplets and of solvent mediated dipolar interactions between droplets that lead to their experimentally observed chaining. A single droplet in a nematic host acts like a macroscopic hedgehog defect. Global boundary conditions force the nucleation of compensating topological defects in the nematic host. Using variational techniques, we show that in the lowest energy configuration, a single water droplet draws a single hedgehog out of the nematic host to form a tightly bound dipole. Configurations in which the water droplet is encircled by a disclination ring have higher energy. The droplet-dipole induces distortions in the nematic host that lead to an effective dipole-dipole interaction between droplets and hence to chaining.Comment: 17 double column pages prepared by RevTex, 15 eps figures included in text, 2 gif figures for Fig. 1

Judgment Aggregation with Abstentions under Voters' Hierarchy

International audienceSimilar to Arrow’s impossibility theorem for preference aggregation, judgment aggregation has also an intrinsic impossibility for generating consistent group judgment from individual judgments. Removing some of the pre-assumed conditions would mitigate the problem but may still lead to too restrictive solutions. It was proved that if completeness is removed but other plausible conditions are kept, the only possible aggregation functions are oligarchic, which means that the group judgment is purely determined by a certain subset of participating judges. Instead of further challenging the other conditions, this paper investigates how the judgment from each individual judge affects the group judgment in an oligarchic environment. We explore a set of intuitively demanded conditions under abstentions and design a feasible judgment aggregation rule based on the agents’ hierarchy. We show this proposed aggregation rule satisfies the desirable conditions. More importantly, this rule is oligarchic with respect to a subset of agenda instead of the whole agenda due to its literal-based characteristics