THE EFFECTS OF INDUSTRY STRUCTURE ON PRICE: A CASE IN THE BEEF INDUSTRY

This study estimates the influence of concentration and other structural variables on the price of slaughter cattle. Cross-sectional data were used to estimate a single equation model which included, in addition to traditional factor demand variables, packer concentration and a measure of market power exerted by feedlots. Results suggest that packer concentration has had a significant and increasing negative impact on fed cattle prices during the years of analysis, 1972 and 1977.Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries,

The Influence of Some Factors on Prices in the Phoenix Cotton Market: Quality, Lot Size, Lot Uniformity

This item is part of the Agricultural Experiment Station archive. It was digitized from a physical copy provided by the University Libraries at the University of Arizona. For more information, please email CALS Publications at [email protected]

Narrative Form and Mediaeval Continuity In The Percy Folio Manuscript: A Study Of Selected Poems

This study examines the continuity of mediaeval literary tradition in selected rhymed narrative verse. These verses were composed for entertainment at various times prior to 1648. At or shortly before this date, they were collected into The Percy Folio: BL. Add. MS. 27,879. Selected texts with an Historical or Romance topic are examined from two points of view: modification of source material and modification of traditional narrative stylistic structure. First, an early historical poem is analysed to establish a possible paradigm of the conventions governing the mediaeval manipulation of fact or source material into a pleasing narrative. Other texts are compared with the result of this analysis and it is found that twenty paradigmatic items appear to summarize early convention as their presence in other poems is consistent — no text agreeing with less than twelve. The second step is the presentation of the results of an analysis of some fifty mediaeval Romances. This was undertaken in order to delineate clearly selected motifemic formulae inherent in the composition of these popular narratives. It is shown that these motifemes, found in the Romances, are also present in the historical texts of The Percy Folio. The findings, derived from both strands of investigation, are that mediaeval continuity exists in the texts studied. The factors which actually comprise this ‘mediaeval continuity’ are isolated: it is then seen that rather than discard tradition as society grew further and further from the early circumstances that gave rise to it, later poets have chosen to contrive modifications designed to fit new requirements as they arise. Such modifications, however, are always within the established conventional framework. In short, no text examined failed to echo tradition, and mediaeval continuity is an important feature of the popular rhymed narrative in 1648 and The Percy Folio

Clinically insignificant association between anterior knee pain and patellofemoral lesions which are found incidentally.

Patellofemoral chondral lesions are frequently identified incidentally during the arthroscopic treatment of other knee pathologies. A role has been described for arthroscopic debridement of such lesions when symptoms are known to originate from pathology of the patellofemoral joint. However, it remains unclear how to manage lesions which are found incidentally whilst tackling other pathologies. The purpose of this study was to establish the strength of association between anterior knee pain and patellofemoral lesions identified incidentally in a typical arthroscopic population. A consecutive series of patients undergoing arthroscopy for a range of standard indications formed the basis of this cross section study. We excluded those with patellofemoral conditions in order to identify patellofemoral lesions which were solely incidental. Pre-operative assessments were performed on 64 patients, where anterior knee pain was sought by three methods: an annotated photographic knee pain map (PKPM), patient indication with one finger and by palpated tenderness. A single surgeon, who was blinded to previous recordings, performed standard arthroscopies and recorded patellofemoral lesions. Statistical correlations were performed to identify the association magnitude. Associations were identified between incidental patellofemoral lesions and tenderness palpated on the medial patella (P=0.007, χ2=0.32) and the quadriceps tendon (P=0.029, χ2=0.26), but these associations were at best fair, which could be interpreted as clinically insignificant. In which case incidental patellofemoral lesions are not necessarily associated with anterior knee pain, we suggest that they could be left alone. This recommendation is only applicable to patellofemoral lesions which are found incidentally whilst addressing other pathology

How the Dark Horse Came in: Portland State University Library Acquires Dark Horse Comics Archive

The article reports on the acquisition made by the Portland State University (PSU) on the archives of Dark Horse Comics Inc. The acquisition is done after PSU alumnus and founder of Dark Horse Comics Mark Richardson donated multiple copies of the past issues of their publication and succeeding copies of the publication. The donation is also for the purpose of preserving the publication in the university library. The donated publication is also expected to be used by researchers as a destination resource in popular culture, gender studies, and sequential art. Donating copies to the library, Richardson also expects to create an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals as well as a sense of ownership for Dark Horse creators

Liquid crystalline thermosets from ester, ester-imide, and ester-amide oligomers

Main chain thermotropic liquid crystal esters, ester-imides, and ester-amides were prepared from AA, BB, and AB type monomeric materials and were end-capped with phenylacetylene, phenylmaleimide, or nadimide reactive end-groups. The resulting reactive end-capped liquid crystal oligomers exhibit a variety of improved and preferred physical properties. The end-capped liquid crystal oligomers are thermotropic and have, preferably, molecular weights in the range of approximately 1000-15,000 grams per mole. The end-capped liquid crystal oligomers have broad liquid crystalline melting ranges and exhibit high melt stability and very low melt viscosities at accessible temperatures. The end-capped liquid crystal oligomers are stable for up to an hour in the melt phase. These properties make the end-capped liquid crystal oligomers highly processable by a variety of melt process shape forming and blending techniques including film extrusion, fiber spinning, reactive injection molding (RIM), resin transfer molding (RTM), resin film injection (RFI), powder molding, pultrusion, injection molding, blow molding, plasma spraying and thermo-forming. Once processed and shaped, the end-capped liquid crystal oligomers were heated to further polymerize and form liquid crystalline thermosets (LCT). The fully cured products are rubbers above their glass transition temperatures. The resulting thermosets display many properties that are superior to their non-end-capped high molecular weight analogs

Fine-scale movement decisions of tropical forest birds in a fragmented landscape

The persistence of forest-dependent species in fragmented landscapes is fundamentally linked to the movement of individuals among subpopulations. The paths taken by dispersing individuals can be considered a series of steps built from individual route choices. Despite the importance of these fine-scale movement decisions, it has proved difficult to collect such data that reveal how forest birds move in novel landscapes. We collected unprecedented route information about the movement of translocated forest birds from two species in the highly fragmented tropical dry forest of Costa Rica. In this pasture-dominated landscape, forest remains in patches or riparian corridors, with lesser amounts of living fencerows and individual trees or "stepping stones." We used step selection functions to quantify how route choice was influenced by these habitat elements. We found that the amount of risk these birds were willing to take by crossing open habitat was context dependent. The forest-specialist Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus) exhibited stronger selection for forested routes when moving in novel landscapes distant from its territory relative to locations closer to its territory. It also selected forested routes when its step originated in forest habitat. It preferred steps ending in stepping stones when the available routes had little forest cover, but avoided them when routes had greater forest cover. The forest-generalist Rufous-naped Wren (Campylorhynchus rufinucha) preferred steps that contained more pasture, but only when starting from non-forest habitats. Our results showed that forested corridors (i.e., riparian corridors) best facilitated the movement of a sensitive forest specialist through this fragmented landscape. They also suggested that stepping stones can be important in highly fragmented forests with little remaining forest cover. We expect that naturally dispersing birds and species with greater forest dependence would exhibit even stronger selection for forested routes than did the birds in our experiments

Liquid Crystalline Thermosets from Ester, Ester-imide, and Ester-amide Oligomers

Main chain thermotropic liquid crystal esters, ester-imides, and ester-amides were prepared from AA, BB, and AB type monomeric materials and end-capped with phenylacetylene, phenylmaleimide, or nadimide reactive end-groups. The end-capped liquid crystal oligomers are thermotropic and have, preferably, molecular weights in the range of approximately 1000-15,000 grams per mole. The end-capped liquid crystaloligomers have broad liquid crystalline melting ranges and exhibit high melt stability and very low melt viscosities at accessible temperatures. The end-capped liquid crystal oli-gomers are stable forup to an hour in the melt phase. They are highly processable by a variety of melt process shape forming and blending techniques. Once processed and shaped, the end-capped liquid crystal oigomers were heated to further polymerize and form liquid crystalline thermosets (LCT). The fully cured products are rubbers above their glass transition temperatures

Polymeric blends for sensor and actuation dual functionality

The invention described herein supplies a new class of electroactive polymeric blend materials which offer both sensing and actuation dual functionality. The blend comprises two components, one component having a sensing capability and the other component having an actuating capability. These components should be co-processable and coexisting in a phase separated blend system. Specifically, the materials are blends of a sensing component selected from the group consisting of ferroelectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric and photoelectric polymers and an actuating component that responds to an electric field in terms of dimensional change. Said actuating component includes, but is not limited to, electrostrictive graft elastomers, dielectric electroactive elastomers, liquid crystal electroactive elastomers and field responsive polymeric gels. The sensor functionality and actuation functionality are designed by tailoring the relative fraction of the two components. The temperature dependence of the piezoelectric response and the mechanical toughness of the dual functional blends are also tailored by the composition adjustment