Evaluating Marketing Channel Options for Small-Scale Fruit and Vegetable Producers: Case Study Evidence from Central New York

An investigation of the relative costs and benefits of marketing channels used by typical small-scale diversified vegetable crop producers is conducted. Using case study evidence from four small farms in Central New York, this study compares the performance of wholesale and direct marketing channels, including how the factors of risk, owner and paid labor, price, lifestyle preferences, and sales volume interact to impact optimal market channel selection. Given the highly perishable nature of the crops grown, along with the risks and potential sales volume of particular channels, a combination of different marketing channels is needed to maximize overall firm performance. Accordingly, a ranking system is developed to summarize the major firm-specific factors across channels and to prioritize those channels with the greatest opportunity for success based on individual firm preferences.Marketing channel, small-scale, fruit and vegetable producers, case study, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Financial Economics,

Evaluating Marketing Channel Options for Small-Scale Fruit and Vegetable Producers

An investigation of the relative costs and benefits of marketing channels used by typical smallscale diversified vegetable crop producers is conducted. Using case study evidence from four small farms in Central New York, this study compares the performance of wholesale and direct marketing channels, including how the factors of risk, owner and paid labor, price, lifestyle preferences, and sales volume interact to impact optimal market channel selection. Given the highly perishable nature of the crops grown, along with the risks and potential sales volume of particular channels, a combination of different marketing channels is needed to maximize overall firm performance. Accordingly, a ranking system is developed to summarize the major firm-specific factors across channels and to prioritize those channels with the greatest opportunity for success based on individual firm preferences.local food, marketing, wholesale, direct, marketing channels, economic evaluation, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Production Economics,

Useful applications of earth-oriented satellites - Systems for remote-sensing information and distribution, panel 8

Problems and potential use of data gathered by remote sensing from satellites or aircraf

Discovering Valuable Items from Massive Data

Suppose there is a large collection of items, each with an associated cost and an inherent utility that is revealed only once we commit to selecting it. Given a budget on the cumulative cost of the selected items, how can we pick a subset of maximal value? This task generalizes several important problems such as multi-arm bandits, active search and the knapsack problem. We present an algorithm, GP-Select, which utilizes prior knowledge about similarity be- tween items, expressed as a kernel function. GP-Select uses Gaussian process prediction to balance exploration (estimating the unknown value of items) and exploitation (selecting items of high value). We extend GP-Select to be able to discover sets that simultaneously have high utility and are diverse. Our preference for diversity can be specified as an arbitrary monotone submodular function that quantifies the diminishing returns obtained when selecting similar items. Furthermore, we exploit the structure of the model updates to achieve an order of magnitude (up to 40X) speedup in our experiments without resorting to approximations. We provide strong guarantees on the performance of GP-Select and apply it to three real-world case studies of industrial relevance: (1) Refreshing a repository of prices in a Global Distribution System for the travel industry, (2) Identifying diverse, binding-affine peptides in a vaccine de- sign task and (3) Maximizing clicks in a web-scale recommender system by recommending items to users

How does tephra deposit thickness change over time? A calibration exercise based on the 1980 Mount St Helens tephra deposit

Tephra layers are frequently used to reconstruct past volcanic activity. Inferences made from tephra layers rely on the assumption that the preserved tephra layer is representative of the initial deposit. However, a great deal can happen to tephra after it is deposited; thus, tephra layer taphonomy is a crucial but poorly understood process. The overall goal of this research was to gain greater insight into the taphonomy of terrestrial tephra layers. We approached this by a) conducting a new survey of the tephra layer from the recent, well-studied eruption of Mount St Helens on May 18th, 1980 (MSH1980); b) modelling the tephra layer thickness using an objective mathematical technique and c) comparing our results with an equivalent model based on measurements taken immediately after the eruption. In this way, we aimed to quantify any losses and transformations that have occurred. During our study, we collected measurements of tephra layer thickness from 86 locations ranging from 600 km from the vent. Geochemical analysis was used to verify the identity of tephra of uncertain origin. Our results indicated that the extant tephra layer at undisturbed sites was representative of the original deposit: overall, preservation in these locations (in terms of thickness, stratigraphy and geochemistry) had been remarkably good. However, isopach maps generated from our measurements diverged from isopachs derived from the original survey data. Furthermore, our estimate of the quantity of tephra produced during eruption greatly exceeded previous estimates of the fallout volume. In this case, inaccuracies in the modelled fallout arose from issues of sampling strategy, rather than taphonomy. Our results demonstrate the sensitivity of volcanological reconstructions to measurement location, and the great importance of reliably measured low/zero values in reconstructing tephra deposits

Bright X-ray radiation from plasma bubbles in an evolving laser wakefield accelerator

We show that the properties of the electron beam and bright x-rays produced by a laser wakefield accelerator can be predicted if the distance over which the laser self-focuses and compresses prior to self-injection is taken into account. A model based on oscillations of the beam inside a plasma bubble shows that performance is optimised when the plasma length is matched to the laser depletion length. With a 200~TW laser pulse this results in an x-ray beam with median photon energy of \unit[20]{keV}, $> 6\times 10^{8}$ photons above \unit[1]{keV} per shot and a peak brightness of \unit[3 \times 10^{22}]{photons~s^{-1}mrad^{-2}mm^{-2} (0.1\% BW)^{-1}}.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Oblique Confinement and Phase Transitions in Chern-Simons Gauge Theories

We investigate non-perturbative features of a planar Chern-Simons gauge theory modeling the long distance physics of quantum Hall systems, including a finite gap M for excitations. By formulating the model on a lattice, we identify the relevant topological configurations and their interactions. For M bigger than a critical value, the model exhibits an oblique confinement phase, which we identify with Lauglin's incompressible quantum fluid. For M smaller than the critical value, we obtain a phase transition to a Coulomb phase or a confinement phase, depending on the value of the electromagnetic coupling.Comment: 8 pages, harvmac, DFUPG 91/94 and MPI-PhT/94-9

The FLASHForward Facility at DESY

The FLASHForward project at DESY is a pioneering plasma-wakefield acceleration experiment that aims to produce, in a few centimetres of ionised hydrogen, beams with energy of order GeV that are of quality sufficient to be used in a free-electron laser. The plasma wave will be driven by high-current density electron beams from the FLASH linear accelerator and will explore both external and internal witness-beam injection techniques. The plasma is created by ionising a gas in a gas cell with a multi-TW laser system, which can also be used to provide optical diagnostics of the plasma and electron beams due to the <30 fs synchronisation between the laser and the driving electron beam. The operation parameters of the experiment are discussed, as well as the scientific program.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure

A simulation study of the reaction of human heart to biphasic electrical shocks

BACKGROUND: This article presents a study, which examines the effects of biphasic electrical shocks on human ventricular tissue. The effects of this type of shock are not yet fully understood. Animal experiments showed the superiority of biphasic shocks over monophasic ones in defibrillation. A mathematical computer simulation can increase the knowledge of human heart behavior. METHODS: The research presented in this article was done with different models representing a three-dimensional wedge of ventricular myocardium. The electrophysiology was described with Priebe-Beuckelmann model. The realistic fiber twist, which is specific to human myocardium was included. Planar electrodes were placed at the ends of the longest side of the virtual cardiac wedge, in a bath medium. They were sources of electrical shocks, which varied in magnitude from 0.1 to 5 V. In a second arrangement ring electrodes were placed directly on myocardium for getting a better view on secondary electrical sources. The electrical reaction of the tissue was generated with a bidomain model. RESULTS: The reaction of the tissue to the electrical shock was specific to the initial imposed characteristics. Depolarization appeared in the first 5 ms in different locations. A further study of the cardiac tissue behavior revealed, which features influence the response of the considered muscle. It was shown that the time needed by the tissue to be totally depolarized is much shorter when a biphasic shock is applied. Each simulation ended only after complete repolarization was achieved. This created the possibility of gathering information from all states corresponding to one cycle of the cardiac rhythm. CONCLUSIONS: The differences between the reaction of the homogeneous tissue and a tissue, which contains cleavage planes, reveals important aspects of superiority of biphasic pulses. ..