A MODIFIED PARTIAL ADJUSTMENT MODEL OF AGGREGATE U.S. AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY

Aggregate U.S. agricultural supply response is modeled through a modified partial adjustment model, where the effects of weather and other temporal stochastic effects are structured to be purely static, while the effects of price and technology, or trend, are dynamic. The model is applied to a time series of aggregate U.S. farm output, aggregate U.S. crop production, and aggregate U.S. livestock and livestock products production for several sample periods within the period 1911-1958. The three aggregate output indexes are tested for irreversibilities in supply response, and no evidence of a definitive irreversible supply function is found for any of the dynamic supply models. The use of a nonstochastic difference equation to model the aggregate farm output and crop production equations results in short-run elasticity estimates that are somewhat smaller than previous studied suggest while the long-run elasticities are somewhat larger.Demand and Price Analysis, Production Economics,

Text-based Semantic Annotation Service for Multimedia Content in the Esperonto project

Within the Esperonto project, an integration of NLP, ontologies and other knowledge bases, is being performed with the goal to implement a semantic annotation service that upgrades the actual Web towards the emerging Semantic Web. Research is being currently conducted on how to apply the Esperonto semantic annotation service to text material associated with still images in web pages. In doing so, the project will allow for semantic querying of still images in the web, but also (automatically) create a large set of text-based semantic annotations of still images, which can be used by the Multimedia community in order to support the task of content indexing of image material, possibly combining the Esperonto type of annotations with the annotations resulting from image analysis

Flight Test Point Optimization Program for a Self-Protection Application

Planning test points for highly constrained flight tests is a lengthy and iterative process which requires a structured, methodical approach using scientific test and analysis techniques (STAT) including: design theory, multi-objective optimization, and uncertainty analysis. Flight test engineers can spend anywhere from a week to a month determining ideal test points, only to have unforeseen problems arise during the week of testing that can invalidate these points. Genetic algorithms can play a key role in point selection for two common types of tests: model verification and validation (V&V) testing and operational test (OT) design. This paper outlines the methodology behind building a program to quickly identify a set of optimal test points for the trade space. The tool will allow test planners to have confidence in their test point design prior to the test as well as to make on-the-fly adjustments to testing locations during the event based on actual performance. There are a wide variety of parameters captured in the overall evaluation criteria (OEC) that give the planner great flexibility in tailoring the genetic algorithm outcomes for their purpose. The paper will begin by going through the steps behind planning a test and in defining the trade space and underlying uncertainty. Then, it will cover the parameters of the genetic algorithm and future work and recommendations

Postal card from Oscar T. Parker

Postal card concerning a copy of the catalogue for Utah Agricultural College

On the well posedness of Robinson Trautman Maxwell solutions

We show that the so called Robinson-Trautman-Maxwell equations do not constitute a well posed initial value problem. That is, the dependence of the solution on the initial data is not continuous in any norm built out from the initial data and a finite number of its derivatives. Thus, they can not be used to solve for solutions outside the analytic domain.Comment: 9 page

Lepton masses and mixing without Yukawa hierarchies

We investigate the neutrino masses and mixing patten in a version of the $SU(3)_c\otimes SU(3)_L\otimes U(1)_X$ model with one extra exotic charged lepton per family as introduced by Ozer. It is shown that an extended scalar sector, together with a discrete $Z_2$ symmetry, is able to reproduce a consistent lepton mass spectrum without a hierarchy in the Yukawa coupling constants, the former as a carefull balance between one universal see-saw and two radiative mechanisms.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D