Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in the Food Manufacturing Industry

This paper examines firm-specific characteristics in the food manufacturing industry that affect firms' decisions in accessing foreign markets via foreign direct investment (FDI). It also seeks to assess variations in the intensity level of multinational firm involvement in FDI given these characteristics. It finds that capital-intensive firms with higher levels of intangible assets, profitability, and knowledge capital are more likely to be MNEs. It also finds that intangible assets and knowledge capital underline the tendency of MNEs to invest more intensively abroad. Furthermore, firm size is found to play an important but not necessarily dominant role in FDI propensity and intensity.Agribusiness,

Do Eating Patterns Follow a Cohort or Change Over a Lifetime? Answers Emerging from the Literature

With the rapidly increasing American elderly population, food companies, healthcare workers, and policy makers alike are asking whether the dietary habits and food consumption patterns of this growing segment of the U.S. population will follow those of current and past elderly people or whether their cohort will eat like they did when they were younger. The purpose of this report is to review what is known about changes in nutritional intake and food consumption patterns that are associated with cohorts (generational) and with the aging process in the U.S. population. Recent literature on cohort and aging effects related to food consumption indicates that the aging effect is greater than the cohort effect. That is, diets change as people age, due to factors such as food availability, new information, new cumulative experiences, and physiological changes as bodies mature. Cohort effect is more likely due to changes in income, i.e., each succeeding cohort realizing higher real per capita income. Variation in findings is likely due to different data sources and analytic methods. Information on data sources and common databases used in these types of studies are also reviewed.Food consumption, cohort, age effect, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Childhood Overweight and School Outcomes

This paper investigates the association between weight and elementary school students’ academic achievement, as measured by standardized Item Respond Theory scale scores in reading and math. Data for this study come from the 1998 cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten-Fifth Grade (ECLS-K), which contains a large national sample of children between the ages of 5 and 12. Estimates of the association between weight and achievement were obtained by utilizing two regression model specifications, a mixed-effects linear model and a student-specific fixed-effects model. A comprehensive set of explanatory variables such as a household’s motivation in helping the student learn (e.g. parents’ expectations for their child’s schooling and levels of parental involvement with school activities), teacher qualification, and school characteristics are controlled for. The results show that malnourished children, both underweight and overweight, especially obese, achieve lower scores on standardized tests, particularly for mathematics, when compared to normal weight children. The outcomes are more pronounced for female students compared to male students. These results emphasize the need to reduce childhood malnutrition, especially childhood obesity.Childhood overweight, academic achievement, ECLS-K, Consumer/Household Economics, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

High Resolution BPM Upgrade for the ATF Damping Ring at KEK

A beam position monitor (BPM) upgrade at the KEK Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) damping ring has been accomplished, carried out by a KEK/FNAL/SLAC collaboration under the umbrella of the global ILC R&D effort. The upgrade consists of a high resolution, high reproducibility read-out system, based on analog and processing, and also implements a new automatic gain error correction schema. The technical concept and realization as well as results of beam studies are presented.Comment: 3 pp. 10th European Workshop on Beam Diagnostics and Instrumentation for Particle Accelerators DIPAC 2011, 16-18 May 2011. Hamburg, German

Broad-band chopper for a CW proton linac at Fermilab

Requirements and technical limitations to the bunch-by-bunch chopper for the Fermilab Project X are discussed.Comment: 3 pp. Particle Accelerator, 24th Conference (PAC'11) 2011. 28 Mar - 1 Apr 2011. New York, US

On non-linear hydrodynamic instability and enhanced transport in differentially rotating flows

In this paper we argue that differential rotation can possibly sustain hydrodynamic turbulence in the absence of magnetic field. We explain why the non-linearities of the hydrodynamic equations (i.e. turbulent diffusion) should not be neglected, either as a simplifying approximation or based on boundary counditions. The consequences of lifting this hypothesis are studied for the flow stability and the enhanced turbulent transport. We develop a simple general model for the energetics of turbulent fluctuations in differentially rotating flows. By taking into account the non-linearities of the equations of motions, we give constraints on the mean flow properties for the possible development of shear instability. The results from recent laboratory experiments on rotating flows show -- in agreement with the model -- that the pertinent parameter for stability appears to be the Rossby number Ro. The laboratory experiments seem to be compatible with Ro 1 in the inviscid or high rotation rates limit. Our results, taken in the inviscid limit, are coherent with the classical linear stability analysis, in the sense that the critical perturbation equals zero on the marginal linear stability curve. We also propose a prescription for turbulent viscosity which generalize the beta-prescription derived in Richard & Zahn 1999.Comment: Accepted for publication in "Astronomy and Astrophysics

Progress with PXIE MEBT Chopper

A capability to provide a large variety of bunch patterns is crucial for the concept of the Project X serving MW-range beam to several experiments simultaneously. This capability will be realized by the Medium Energy Beam Transport's (MEBT) chopping system that will divert 80% of all bunches of the initially 5mA, 2.1 MeV CW 162.5 MHz beam to an absorber according to a pre-programmed bunch-by-bunch selection. Being considered one of the most challenging components, the chopping system will be tested at the Project X Injector Experiment (PXIE) facility that will be built at Fermilab as a prototype of the Project X front end. The bunch deflection will be made by two identical sets of travelling-wave kickers working in sync. Currently, two versions of the kickers are being investigated: a helical 200 Ohm structure with a switching-type 500 V driver and a planar 50 Ohm structure with a linear 250 V amplifier. This paper will describe the chopping system scheme and functional specifications for the kickers, present results of electromagnetic measurements of the models, discuss possible driver schemes, and show a conceptual mechanical design.Comment: 3 pp. 3rd International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC 2012) 20-25 May 2012. New Orleans, Louisian

Salt pile stability: a mathematical model

AbstractThe maximum height for the salt pile in a circular dome with a 4ft retaining wall was determined by two methods. The first method used rigid-body physics; in this model, the critical angel, the maximum angle of inclination allowed while maintaining static equilibrium, was determined using only the external coefficient of friction for salt. Because the static equilibrium also depended upon internal friction, a second model was developed. Development of the second model utilized particle physics, fluid mechanics and soil stress analysis. Mohr's circle, the internal coefficient of friction for salt and its angle of repose were used to determine the critical angle. These results were combined to form our solution model, Model II, which consisted of two submodels:Model II(a) provides a general solution where the front-end loader is allowed to freely travel to any location on the salt pile. This model yields a maximum height of 17.4ft for a symmetric cone with a critical angle of 14.6°.Model II(b) provides a volume-maximizing solution if the loader's travel is restricted. This model yields a maximum height of 23.7ft for a wedge shape with a ramp slope of 14.6° and a back edge slope of 35.9°, where the loader must not cross the peak.Therefore, the authors recommend that Model II(a) be used in the general situation, since the loader is allowed to drive anywhere on the salt pile in this case. When the maximum volume provided is insufficient, Model II(b) can be utilized to increase the capacity of the dome. (Note: The loader must not cross the peak in this model.