Commodity Price Volatility under New Market Orientations

Recent national and international regulatory reforms (e.g. U.S. FAIR and other GATT compliance reforms) in agricultural markets has led some observers to wonder whether the private sector is able to produce a level of price volatility that is socially acceptable. In this paper, we examine the post reform track record of price volatility and its transmission across vertically linked and geographically linked markets. Livestock, grain, and dairy market data (monthly) are considered across the U.S. and E.C. The standard commodity-pricing model supports the hypothesis that competitive storage acts to reduce the volatility of cash prices. Further, speculative attacks and stock outs have been shown to induce increased volatility. This motivates a scope of consideration that includes prices as well as stock levels to assess their contribution to price volatility. The paper considers evidence based on three decades of monthly data and advanced time series techniques. First, univariate volatility estimates based on the autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model are evaluated and compared to historical temporal variation to highlight the importance of well grounded estimation of volatility. Next, the relationships between stocks and the conditional mean, as well as the conditional and unconditional variances of the price series, are assessed for dairy and grain products. Finally, reform associated changes in the structure of the transmission of volatility through vertical markets are considered for dairy products and across geographic markets is considered for grains.Price volatility; price risk; inventories; commodity prices;

THE TRANSMISSION OF PRICE VOLATILITY IN THE BEEF MARKETS

This paper reconsiders the implications of efficient markets for transmission of price volatility across markets. Tests of volatility transmission are based on conditional variances. Results are reported for key grain and beef markets. Transmission across cash, futures, and options is considered.Cointegration, GARCH, Market Efficiency, Beef Markets, Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

The Xpress Transfer Protocol (XTP): A tutorial (expanded version)

The Xpress Transfer Protocol (XTP) is a reliable, real-time, light weight transfer layer protocol. Current transport layer protocols such as DoD's Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and ISO's Transport Protocol (TP) were not designed for the next generation of high speed, interconnected reliable networks such as fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) and the gigabit/second wide area networks. Unlike all previous transport layer protocols, XTP is being designed to be implemented in hardware as a VLSI chip set. By streamlining the protocol, combining the transport and network layers and utilizing the increased speed and parallelization possible with a VLSI implementation, XTP will be able to provide the end-to-end data transmission rates demanded in high speed networks without compromising reliability and functionality. This paper describes the operation of the XTP protocol and in particular, its error, flow and rate control; inter-networking addressing mechanisms; and multicast support features, as defined in the XTP Protocol Definition Revision 3.4

The Xpress Transfer Protocol (XTP): A tutorial (short version)

The Xpress Transfer Protocol (XTP) is a reliable, light weight transfer layer protocol. Current transport layer protocols such as DoD's Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and ISO's Transport Protocol (TP) were not designed for the next generation of high speed, interconnected reliable networks such as fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) and the gigabit/second wide area networks. Unlike all previous transport layer protocols, XTP is being designed to be implemented in hardware as a VLSI chip set. By streamlining the protocol, combining the transport and network layers, and utilizing the increased speed and parallelization possible with a VLSI implementation, XTP will be able to provide the end-to-end data transmission rates demanded in the high speed networks without compromising reliability and functionality. This tutorial briefly describes the operation of the XTP protocol and in particular, its error, flow and rate control; inter-networking addressing mechanisms; and multicast support features, as defined in the XTP Protocol Definition Revision 3.4

Utilizing graph thickness heuristics on the Earth-moon Problem

This paper utilizes heuristic algorithms for determining graph thickness in order to attempt to find a 10-chromatic thickness-2 graph. Doing so would eliminate 9 colors as a potential solution to the Earth-moon Problem. An empirical analysis of the algorithms made by the author are provided. Additionally, the paper lists various graphs that may or nearly have a thickness of 2, which may be solutions if one can find two planar subgraphs that partition all of the graph’s edges

AIRNET: A real-time comunications network for aircraft

A real-time local area network was developed for use on aircraft and space vehicles. It uses token ring technology to provide high throughput, low latency, and high reliability. The system was implemented on PCs and PC/ATs operating on PCbus, and on Intel 8086/186/286/386s operating on Multibus. A standard IEEE 802.2 logical link control interface was provided to (optional) upper layer software; this permits the controls designer to utilize standard communications protocols (e.g., ISO, TCP/IP) if time permits, or to utilize a very fast link level protocol directly if speed is critical. Both unacknowledged datagram and reliable virtual circuit services are supported. A station operating an 8 MHz Intel 286 as a host can generate a sustained load of 1.8 megabits per second per station, and a 100-byte message can be delivered from the transmitter's user memory to the receiver's user memory, including all operating system and network overhead, in under 4 milliseconds

Factors affecting the identification of phytoplankton groups by means of remote sensing

A literature review was conducted on the state of the art as to whether or not information about communities and populations of phytoplankton in aquatic environments can be derived by remote sensing. In order to arrive at this goal, the spectral characteristics of various types of phytoplankton were compared to determine first, whether there are characteristic differences in pigmentation among the types and second, whether such differences can be detected remotely. In addition to the literature review, an extensive, but not exhaustive, annotated bibliography of the literature that bears on these questions is included as an appendix, since it constitutes a convenient resource for anyone wishing an overview of the field of ocean color. The review found some progress has already been made in remote sensing of assemblages such as coccolithophorid blooms, mats of cyanobacteria, and red tides. Much more information about the composition of algal groups is potentially available by remote sensing particularly in water bodies having higher phytoplankton concentrations, but it will be necessary to develop the remote sensing techniques required for working in so-called Case 2 waters. It is also clear that none of the satellite sensors presently available or soon to be launched is ideal from the point of view of what we might wish to know; it would seem wise to pursue instruments with the planned characteristics of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer-Tilt (MODIS-T) or Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS)

Dipole Moment of Tetraborane

The dipole moment of tetraborane, as measured in benzene solution by a heterodyne beat method, is 0.56±0.1.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70423/2/JCPSA6-30-4-1075-1.pd