Local Competition, Multimarket Contact, and Product Quality: Evidence From Internet Service Provision

I investigate the effect of competition on quality in the internet service provision industry: I examine both local competition within markets and multimarket contact among firms across markets. This industry offers an ideal setting, as quality is both objective and measurable. I use data from speedtest.net from 2008 to 2014 to estimate a reduced-form model of the effects of local competition and multimarket contact on realized consumer download speeds. I find that increased multimarket contact leads to decreased download speeds, which is consistent with the mutual forbearance hypothesis. I also find that duopolies lead to faster download speeds than do monopolies, but that further increases in the number of competitors decrease speeds

Spatial Variability of Seedling Disease Pressure in Cotton Fields

Seedling diseases are important factors in cotton stand establishment, and seedling disease pathogens are widespread in fields in Arkansas. Little is known about the variability of seedling disease pressure within fields. With expanded adoption of site-specific management and other precision agriculture approaches, cotton producers are increasingly interested in predicting seedling disease pressure, particularly in spatially variable fields. The cotton seedling disease pathogens include the soilborne pathogens Thielaviopsis basicola, Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium spp., and Fusarium spp. These pathogens can survive in soil for long periods and, and when the environment is conducive, these pathogens can act individually or in combination to cause a range of symptoms on seed, roots and hypocotyls, which can affect germination, emergence, and early-season growth and development of plants. Seedling diseases reduce stand density and seedling vigor, which in turn results in variable plant growth and maturity. Results from experiments conducted at the Judd Hill Cooperative Research Foundation in Poinsett Co. Arkansas showed field-scale increases of cotton seedling disease pressure where minimal soil temperature was lower (20.0 °C) and lower seedling disease pressure where minimal soil temperature was higher (21.5 °C) for both years of this study. This study indicates the importance of the role of the environment in disease development and supports the site-specific management zone approaches being adopted by cotton producers

Advanced Stirling Convertor (ASC) Technology Maturation

The Advanced Stirling Convertor (ASC) development effort was initiated by NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) with contractor Sunpower Inc. to develop high efficiency thermal-to-electric power conversion technology for NASA Radioisotope Power Systems. Early successful performance demonstrations led to the expansion of the project as well as adoption of the technology by the Department of Energy (DOE) and system integration contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company as part of the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) flight project. The ASRG integrates a pair of ASCs to convert the heat from a pair of General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) modules into electrical power. The expanded NASA ASC effort included development of several generations of ASC prototypes or Engineering Units to help prepare the ASC technology and Sunpower for flight implementation. Sunpower later had two parallel contracts allowing the last of the NASA Engineering Units called ASC-E3 to serve as pathfinders for the ASC-F flight convertors being built for DOE. The ASC-E3 convertors utilized the ASC-F flight specifications and were built using the ASC-F design and process documentation. Shortly after the first ASC-F Pair achieved initial operation, due to budget constraints, the DOE ASRG flight development contract was terminated. NASA continues to invest in the development of Stirling RPS technology including continued production of the ASC-E3 convertors, seven of which have been delivered with one additional unit in production. Starting in FY2015, Stirling Convertor Technology Maturation has been reorganized as an element of the RPS Stirling Cycle Technology Development (SCTD) Project and long-term plans for continued Stirling technology advancement are in reformulation. This paper provides a status on the ASC project, an overview of advancements made in the design and production of the ASC at Sunpower, and a summary of acceptance tests, reliability tests, and tactical tests at NASA GRC that demonstrate the capabilities of the ASC

Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) Specifications for Irrigation District Pumps

This information was compiled by ITRC and includes specifications for standards, warranties, submittals, VFD size, and other technical details to aid districts in the selection and implementation of VFD system

The effects of brief mindfulness induction and psychological stress manipulation on perceived stress

The effects of a brief mindfulness induction and psychological stress manipulation on perceived stress were studied using a sample of 51 Laurentian University Undergraduate Psychology students. Participants were subjected to either to a mindfulness manipulation condition (a focused attention task – an analogy of mindfulness induction – or a free mind wandering task), followed by a stress manipulation condition (either the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or an activity-matched placebo (TSSTp). Trait mindfulness (covariate), state mindfulness (manipulation check), perceived stress (manipulation check/dependant variable), and mood measures (dependant variable) were administered. Both mindfulness induction and stress induction manipulation checks were significant, indicating that participants understood the instructions, and the manipulations provided significant measured changes between groups. The stress manipulation check was significant in the expected direction, such that those in the stress experimental group rated as more stressed than the control group; however, the mood induction was significant opposite to expectations, such that the mind-wandering condition elicited significantly higher state mindfulness scores than the focused-breathing condition. There was no significant main effect of mindfulness on perceived stress scores, and contrary to the main hypothesis, there was no significant interaction between mindfulness condition and stress condition on perceived stress scores. Results of the mindfulness manipulation check suggest that the brief mindfulness manipulation utilized was not sufficient enough to produce measurable differences in mindfulness scores; however, the unexpected significance of the control group scores, coupled with a significant negative correlation between the trait and state mindfulness measures, may reflect discrepancies between the two measures of mindfulness and ultimately a difference between schools of mindfulness, or it may reflect an artifact of the methodology used. The lack of significant results concerning mindfulness and perceived stress scores suggest that either 1) a brief 15-minute implementation of mindfulness may not be sufficient enough to buffer against immediate future stress, or 2) there were issues/confounding variables with the methodology used. There were no significant results concerning the mood measures. Results and future research are discussed.Masters of Arts (MA) in Psycholog