Why Some People Question Our Farm Programs

Agricultural and Food Policy,

HOST structural analysis program overview

Hot-section components of aircraft gas turbine engines are subjected to severe thermal structural loading conditions, especially during the startup and takeoff portions of the engine cycle. The most severe and damaging stresses and strains are those induced by the steep thermal gradients induced during the startup transient. These transient stresses and strains are also the most difficult to predict, in part because the temperature gradients and distributions are not well known or readily predictable and, in part, because the cyclic elastic-viscoplastic behavior of the materials at these extremes of temperature and strain are not well known or readily predictable. A broad spectrum of structures related technology programs is underway to address these deficiencies at the basic as well as the applied level. The three key program elements in the HOST structural analysis program are computations, constitutive modeling, and experiments for each research activity. Also shown are tables summarizing each of the activities

Globalization: Benefits and Costs

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Globalization and the benefits of trade

Globalization involves increasing integration of economies around the world, from the national to the most local levels, thereby promoting international trade in goods and services and cross-border movement of information, technology, people, and investments. This article examines the benefits and costs to the U.S. and other countries.Globalization ; International trade

Rural Towns Don't Have to Dry Up and Blow Away

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Whither Food Aid?

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Globalization and rural America

Globalization has been a great benefit to rural America in that it has opened overseas markets for its agriculture. Yet, there is growing concern that U.S. rural communities will lose not only their share of agricultural trade but also nonfarm jobs to global competition. This article examines how they can remain competitive relative to low-income countries.Globalization ; Agriculture - Economic aspects

Dynamical phase transitions in one-dimensional hard-particle systems

We analyse a one-dimensional model of hard particles, within ensembles of trajectories that are conditioned (or biased) to atypical values of the time-averaged dynamical activity. We analyse two phenomena that are associated with these large deviations of the activity: phase separation (at low activity) and the formation of hyperuniform states (at high activity). We consider a version of the model which operates at constant volume, and a version at constant pressure. In these non-equilibrium systems, differences arise between the two ensembles, because of the extra freedom available to the constant-pressure system, which can change its total density. We discuss the relationships between different ensembles, mechanical equilibrium, and the probability cost of rare density fluctuations.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

Suitability for Global Maize Production: A Methodology Based on Spatial Analysis

A methodology based on spatial analysis is proposed to investigate suitability of crop, and then applied to analyzing the suitability for global maize production. The suitable and unsuitable maize cultivated regions are given based on the analysis, and maize cultivated regions sensitive to economic incentive is also illustrated and discussed.Crop Production/Industries,

Improved finite strip Mindlin plate bending element using assumed shear strain distributions

A linear finite strip plate element based on Mindlin/Reissner plate theory is developed. The analysis is suitable for both thin and thick plates. In the formulation new transverse shear strains are introduced and assumed constant in each two-code linear strip. The element stiffness matrix is explicitly formulated for efficient computation and computer implementation. Numerical results showing the efficiency and predictive capability of the element for the analysis of plates are presented for different support and loading conditions and a wide range of thicknesses. No sign of shear locking phenomenon was observed with the newly developed element