Why the Economics Profession Must Actively Participate in the Privacy Protection Debate

When Google or the U.S. Census Bureau publish detailed statistics on browsing habits or neighborhood characteristics, some privacy is lost for everybody while supplying public information. To date, economists have not focused on the privacy loss inherent in data publication. In their stead, these issues have been advanced almost exclusively by computer scientists who are primarily interested in technical problems associated with protecting privacy. Economists should join the discussion, first, to determine where to balance privacy protection against data quality; a social choice problem. Furthermore, economists must ensure new privacy models preserve the validity of public data for economic research

DOES BRANDED FOOD PRODUCT ADVERTISING HELP OR HURT FARMERS?

A two-stage model is developed to study food processing firms' brand advertising and its welfare effects on farmers in a duopsony/duoploy setting. In stage 1 firms compete to differentiate their products through brand advertising, and in stage 2 firms engage in quality competition. Farmers may benefit or lose form brand advertising under alternative market conditions.Marketing,

Vertical Market Structure, Commodity Exports and Trade Reform

In the analysis of commodity markets, comparatively little attention is paid to the fact that commodity exports are intermediates that form inputs into the food processing and retail sectors in developed countries. Exporting countries correspondingly argue that access to developed country markets are determined by market structure characteristics of the downstream food sector. Given the vertical nature of these markets, they are most appropriately characterised by successive oligopoly and/or oligopsony. We explore trade policy issues facing commodity exporters, and show that the impact of tariff reform on commodity exporters is determined by the market structure characteristics of the downstream sectors.vertical market structure, trade reform, Industrial Organization, International Relations/Trade, F12, Q17,

SOME TESTS OF THE ECONOMIC THEORY OF COOPERATIVES: METHODOLOGY AND APPLICATION TO COTTON GINNING

Little progress has been made in testing the often conflicting hypotheses generated from theoretical research on cooperatives. This paper addresses the deficiency by describing and applying (to California cotton ginning cooperatives) a methodology to test key hypotheses concerning (a) cooperativesÂ’ price-output equilibrium, (b) allocative efficiency, and (c) utilization of capital inputs. The empirical results (a) are consistent with predictions from the game theory model of cooperative behavior, (b) reject the null hypothesis of absolute allocative efficiency, and (c) indicate absolute overutilization of capital inputs among the sample cooperatives.Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries,

Diverter Decision Aiding for In-Flight Diversions

It was determined that artificial intelligence technology can provide pilots with the help they need in making the complex decisions concerning en route changes in a flight plan. A diverter system should have the capability to take all of the available information and produce a recommendation to the pilot. Phase three illustrated that using Joshua to develop rules for an expert system and a Statice database provided additional flexibility by permitting the development of dynamic weighting of diversion relevant parameters. This increases the fidelity of the AI functions cited as useful in aiding the pilot to perform situational assessment, navigation rerouting, flight planning/replanning, and maneuver execution. Additionally, a prototype pilot-vehicle interface (PVI) was designed providing for the integration of both text and graphical based information. Advanced technologies were applied to PVI design, resulting in a hierarchical menu based architecture to increase the efficiency of information transfer while reducing expected workload. Additional efficiency was gained by integrating spatial and text displays into an integrated user interface

Printing, Characterization, and Mechanical Testing of Additively Manufactured Refractory Metal Alloys

Refractory metal alloys in the tungsten molybdenum rhenium ternary system were additively manufactured using laser power bed fusion. Four ternary alloys with varying concentrations of tungsten, molybdenum, and rhenium were manufactured and manufactured again with an addition of 1 wt% hafnium carbide. Samples were heat treated to heal cracks, reduce porosity, and reduce inhomogeneity. Material microstructure was characterized before and after heat treatment using microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and electron backscatter diffraction mapping. Mechanical testing was conducted on both three-point bend specimens and compression specimens, resulting in maximum bending strengths of 677.86 MPa, and maximum compression 0.2% yield strengths of 583.88 MPa for the strongest composition. The ternary alloy samples exhibited less porosity, less cracking, more refined grains, and higher strengths. The hafnium carbide doped samples exhibited more cracking and porosity, larger grains, and lower overall strengths

Covering the Costs of Curation: A Comparative Analysis in the Southeastern United States

In 2017, a survey was used to assess the curation crisis and see how curators have adapted their repositories to combat the issue. The results have been analyzed compared to other surveys sent out in the past twenty years to monitor changes and trends in repositories. This is an effort to explore and understand the challenges archaeological repositories face, how they manage the obstacles that accompany archaeological curation, and how this has changed over the years. Hopefully, the study of the ongoing curation crisis and those who have to oversee it will encourage conversation and collaboration between those who wish to find solutions for this dilemma