MANDATORY VERSUS VOLUNTARY PRICE REPORTING: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE MARKET TRANSPARENCY CONTROVERSY

The ability of the former voluntary price reporting system to generate market transparency in U.S. livestock markets was called into question by producer groups and academic research prior to the new federal system of mandatory price reporting being implemented. The market transparency issue is investigated by comparing price data collected from the former AMS voluntary price reporting system to mandatory price reporting data for live slaughter steers collected by the State of South Dakota before the advent of the new federal system. The relationship between a set of public price report series and the South Dakota mandatory price series is analyzed using cointegration techniques. The empirical findings indicate a strong long-run and short-run integrated relationship between the mandatory price series and a majority of the selected public price reports. We conclude that in the cash market for live steers in South Dakota, the former voluntary price reporting system did foster market transparency and aided in the price discovery process.Marketing,

Measuring fast electron spectra and laser absorption in relativistic laser-solid interactions using differential bremsstrahlung photon detectors

A photon detector suitable for the measurement of bremsstrahlung spectra generated in relativistically-intense laser-solid interactions is described. The Monte Carlo techniques used to back-out the fast electron spectrum and laser energy absorbed into fast electrons are detailed. A relativistically-intense laser-solid experiment using frequency doubled laser light is used to demonstrate the effective operation of the detector. The experimental data was interpreted using the 3-spatial-dimension Monte Carlo code MCNPX (Pelowitz 2008), and the fast electron temperature found to be 125 keV

An ontology model for the medical device development process in Europe

Product development refers to the transformation process of an idea into a product or service. It can be applied to any sector, but special attention must be given to each industry particularities. In the case of medical devices, the development process should consider the multiple definitions of the term ‘medical device’, a vast regulatory framework as well as numerous organizations that evaluate the devices’ safety and effectiveness before entering the market. It should also consider various stakeholders and a variety of requirements regarding risk and quality. Currently, literature regarding product development methodologies applied to medical devices is scarce, and there is no graphical representation of the process addressing the environment in which it occurs. Here such representation, for the European market, is made in order to help to understand how medical devices are developed, evaluated and approved. The development process of medical devices was depicted because it is the most practical, easiest and fastest way to maintain, understand and communicate information. Furthermore, it facilitates the identification of the elements driving the process and reduces the complexity of the reality being represented. As the diagram presented is generic, it can be applied to every segment of the medical device industry. In addition, it can be both used by designers and management to guide the process, implement quality standards, support decision and select tools.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Impact of solar photovoltaics on the low-voltage distribution network in New Zealand

Residential rooftop-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are being installed at an increasing rate, both in New Zealand and globally. There have been concerns over possible issues such as overvoltage and overcurrent. These PV systems are mostly connected at low voltage (LV). This study presents a case study of simulating the entire LV network from a single utility, comprising 10,558 11 kV–415 V transformers and their associated distribution feeders. These results are also presented by network type. Various solar PV penetration levels are added to the model and the power-flow results are presented. From these results, possible maximum limits of solar PV penetration are investigated and measures to alleviate overvoltage problems are simulated. The effect of using PV inverters with voltage regulation is simulated. Results show that some minor overvoltage problems can be expected in the future, particularly in urban areas. However, in most cases the overvoltage would not be much higher than the statutory limit of 1.06 p.u

A dedicated methodology for the development of new medical technologies

The scientific discoveries of the last century are responsible for most of the medical devices currently in use. In this century, considering the advances namely in the computational power and the diffusion of the internet, one can expect a revolution in the use of medical technologies. Most certainly, new products and services will appear but only the ones that are supported by solid business plans will thrive. To assist in the development of novel medical devices and services and the elaboration of convincing business plans, the use of a product development methodology dedicated to medical technologies is suggested in this paper. Considering that many medical device companies spin-out from universities, this procedure aims to assist academia to cross the “valley of death”, i.e., the chasm between the world of research and the world of trade and industry.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Tracking Transmission of Apicomplexan Symbionts in Diverse Caribbean Corals

Symbionts in each generation are transmitted to new host individuals either vertically (parent to offspring), horizontally (from exogenous sources), or a combination of both. Scleractinian corals make an excellent study system for understanding patterns of symbiont transmission since they harbor diverse symbionts and possess distinct reproductive modes of either internal brooding or external broadcast spawning that generally correlate with vertical or horizontal transmission, respectively. Here, we focused on the under-recognized, but apparently widespread, coral-associated apicomplexans (Protista: Alveolata) to determine if symbiont transmission depends on host reproductive mode. Specifically, a PCR-based assay was utilized towards identifying whether planula larvae and reproductive adults from brooding and broadcast spawning scleractinian coral species in Florida and Belize harbored apicomplexan DNA. Nearly all (85.5%; n = 85/89) examined planulae of five brooding species (Porites astreoides, Agaricia tenuifolia, Agaricia agaricites, Favia fragum, Mycetophyllia ferox) and adults of P. astreoides were positive for apicomplexan DNA. In contrast, no (n = 0/10) apicomplexan DNA was detected from planulae of four broadcast spawning species (Acropora cervicornis, Acropora palmata, Pseudodiploria strigosa, and Orbicella faveolata) and rarely in gametes (8.9%; n = 5/56) of these species sampled from the same geographical range as the brooding species. In contrast, tissue samples from nearly all (92.0%; n = 81/88) adults of the broadcast spawning species A. cervicornis, A. palmata and O. faveolata harbored apicomplexan DNA, including colonies whose gametes and planulae tested negative for these symbionts. Taken together, these data suggest apicomplexans are transmitted vertically in these brooding scleractinian coral species while the broadcast spawning scleractinian species examined here acquire these symbionts horizontally. Notably, these transmission patterns are consistent with those of other scleractinian coral symbionts. While this study furthers knowledge regarding these symbionts, numerous questions remain to be addressed, particularly in regard to the specific interaction(s) between these apicomplexans and their hosts

Thermal protection system ablation sensor

An isotherm sensor tracks space vehicle temperatures by a thermal protection system (TPS) material during vehicle re-entry as a function of time, and surface recession through calibration, calculation, analysis and exposed surface modeling. Sensor design includes: two resistive conductors, wound around a tube, with a first end of each conductor connected to a constant current source, and second ends electrically insulated from each other by a selected material that becomes an electrically conductive char at higher temperatures to thereby complete an electrical circuit. The sensor conductors become shorter as ablation proceeds and reduced resistance in the completed electrical circuit (proportional to conductor length) is continually monitored, using measured end-to-end voltage change or current in the circuit. Thermocouple and/or piezoelectric measurements provide consistency checks on local temperatures

The SDSS Coadd: A Galaxy Photometric Redshift Catalog

We present and describe a catalog of galaxy photometric redshifts (photo-z's) for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Coadd Data. We use the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique to calculate photo-z's and the Nearest Neighbor Error (NNE) method to estimate photo-z errors for $\sim$ 13 million objects classified as galaxies in the coadd with $r < 24.5$. The photo-z and photo-z error estimators are trained and validated on a sample of $\sim 83,000$ galaxies that have SDSS photometry and spectroscopic redshifts measured by the SDSS Data Release 7 (DR7), the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology Field Galaxy Survey (CNOC2), the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe Data Release 3(DEEP2 DR3), the VIsible imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph - Very Large Telescope Deep Survey (VVDS) and the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey. For the best ANN methods we have tried, we find that 68% of the galaxies in the validation set have a photo-z error smaller than $\sigma_{68} =0.031$. After presenting our results and quality tests, we provide a short guide for users accessing the public data.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, submitted to ApJ. Analysis updated to remove proprietary BOSS data comprising small fraction (8%) of original spectroscopic training set and erroneously included. Changes in results are small compared to the errors and the conclusions are unaffected. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0708.003