Machinery Investment in Illinois: A Study Examining Existing Investment Motivations

In this study, we attempt to prove some previously held ideas of machinery investment decisions using farm level data from Illinois. Investment decisions are analyzed taking into consideration past investment decisions in the county and on the individual farm. The results show there is a correlation between county level purchases and individual farm purchases and investment levels decrease the following year after an initial investment. These results display how non-traditional drivers for investment also play an important role in the investment decision.machinery, investment, keeping up with the Jones', treadmill theory, Farm Management,

FACTORS AFFECTING EFFICIENCY OF FEEDER CATTLE HEDGING IN KENTUCKY

Livestock Production/Industries,

Free-piston Stirling engine conceptual design and technologies for space power, phase 1

As part of the SP-100 program, a phase 1 effort to design a free-piston Stirling engine (FPSE) for a space dynamic power conversion system was completed. SP-100 is a combined DOD/DOE/NASA program to develop nuclear power for space. This work was completed in the initial phases of the SP-100 program prior to the power conversion concept selection for the Ground Engineering System (GES). Stirling engine technology development as a growth option for SP-100 is continuing after this phase 1 effort. Following a review of various engine concepts, a single-cylinder engine with a linear alternator was selected for the remainder of the study. The relationships of specific mass and efficiency versus temperature ratio were determined for a power output of 25 kWe. This parametric study was done for a temperature ratio range of 1.5 to 2.0 and for hot-end temperatures of 875 K and 1075 K. A conceptual design of a 1080 K FPSE with a linear alternator producing 25 kWe output was completed. This was a single-cylinder engine designed for a 62,000 hour life and a temperature ratio of 2.0. The heat transport systems were pumped liquid-metal loops on both the hot and cold ends. These specifications were selected to match the SP-100 power system designs that were being evaluated at that time. The hot end of the engine used both refractory and superalloy materials; the hot-end pressure vessel featured an insulated design that allowed use of the superalloy material. The design was supported by the hardware demonstration of two of the component concepts - the hydrodynamic gas bearing for the displacer and the dynamic balance system. The hydrodynamic gas bearing was demonstrated on a test rig. The dynamic balance system was tested on the 1 kW RE-1000 engine at NASA Lewis

New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of the Grande Ronde lavas, Columbia River Basalts, USA: Implications for duration of flood basalt eruption episodes

Grande Ronde Basalt (GRB) lavas represent the most voluminous eruptive pulse of the Columbia River-Snake River-Yellowstone hotspot volcanism. With an estimated eruptive volume of 150,000 km3, GRB lavas form at least 66% of the total volume of the Columbia River Basalt Group. New 40Ar/39Ar dates for GRB lavas reveal they were emplaced within a maximum period of 0.42 ± 0.18 My. A well-documented stratigraphy indicates at least 110 GRB flow fields (or individual eruptions), and on this basis suggests an average inter-eruption hiatus of less than 4,000 years. Isotopic age-dating cannot resolve time gaps between GRB eruptions, and it is difficult to otherwise form a picture of the durations of eruptions because of non-uniform weathering in the top of flow fields and a general paucity of sediments between GR lavas. Where sediment has formed on top of the GRB, it varies in thickness from zero to 20-30 cm of silty to fine-sandy material, with occasional diatomaceous sediment. Individual GRB eruptions varied considerably in volume but many were greater than 1000 km3 in size. Most probably eruptive events were not equally spaced in time; some eruptions may have followed short periods of volcanic repose (perhaps 102 to 103 of yrs), whilst others could have been considerably longer (many 1000 s to > 104 yrs). Recent improvements in age-dating for other continental flood basalt (CFB) lava sequences have yielded estimates of total eruptive durations of less than 1 My for high-volume pulses of lava production. The GRB appears to be a similar example, where the main pulse occupied a brief period. Even allowing for moderate to long-duration pahoehoe flow field production, the amount of time the system spends in active lava-producing mode is small – less than c. 2.6% (based on eruption durations of approximately 10,000 yrs, as compared to the duration of the entire eruptive pulse of c. 420,000 yrs). A review of available 40Ar/39Ar data for the major voluminous phases of the Columbia River Basalt Group suggests that activity of the Steens Basalt-Imnaha Basalt-GRB may have, at times, been simultaneous, with obvious implications for climatic effects. Resolving intervals between successive eruptions during CFB province construction, and durations of main eruptive pulses, remains vital to determining the environmental impact of these huge eruptions

Rapid detection and quantification of features such as damage or flaws in composite and metallic structures

An apparatus, system, and method for non-destructible evaluation (NDE) of a material use thermography to rapidly detect and/or generally locate a feature such as, for example, damage or a defect in the material. The apparatus, system, and method also use ultrasound to specifically locate the feature in the material for quantification and/or evaluation either by an operator or by an external device suited for such purpose. Accordingly, the apparatus, system and method are particularly useful for NDE in applications such as the analysis of the structure of an aircraft, for example, in which the scale of the material to be analyzed is large, thus requiring the rapid NDE afforded by thermography, and in which quantification and/or evaluation of a feature must be performed with precision, thus requiring the relatively high-resolution NDE afforded by ultrasound

Preferential Remedies for Employment Discrimination

A basic thesis of this article is that much of the current concern about alleged reverse discrimination in employment ignores the reality of the situation. In Part I it will be contended that although color blindness is a laudable long-run objective, it alone will not end discrimination; thus, it will be argued that some form of color conscious affirmative action must be employed in order to achieve equal employment opportunity for minorities and women. The most effective form of affirmative action is temporary preferential treatment, and it will be asserted in Part II that such relief can be justified under the Constitution. Similarly, in Part m, it will be argued that preferential remedies can be justified under present statutory provisions governing employment discrimination. Finally, in Part IV, two conclusions will be drawn: first, that while it is accurate to suggest that some minority persons or women who currently benefit from preferential remedies might not have been hired but for their race or sex, this does not mean that these individuals are not qualified, and second, that the opponents of preferential remedies have grossly exaggerated the impact of such remedies by failing to recognize that, in reality, the cases in which preferential remedies have been ordered have generally involved small numbers of positions and have imposed the remedy for relatively short periods of time. Before proceeding, however, it is necessary to point out that this article will take a broad approach, sometimes sacrificing specificity in an attempt to provide an overview to the problem of preferential remedies. It is hoped that this overview will demonstrate that the true value of the preferential remedy is in raising the consciousness of the community and encouraging voluntary affirmative action programs that will, by putting people together in the workplace, teach that all are equal

Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate: Developing Technology to Protect America

In response to a congressional mandate and in consultation with Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), the National Academy conducted a review of S&T's effectiveness and efficiency in addressing homeland security needs. This review included a particular focus that identified any unnecessary duplication of effort, and opportunity costs arising from an emphasis on homeland security-related research. Under the direction of the National Academy Panel, the study team reviewed a wide variety of documents related to S&T and homeland security-related research in general. The team also conducted interviews with more than 200 individuals, including S&T officials and staff, officials from other DHS component agencies, other federal agencies engaged in homeland security-related research, and experts from outside government in science policy, homeland security-related research and other scientific fields.Key FindingsThe results of this effort indicated that S&T faces a significant challenge in marshaling the resources of multiple federal agencies to work together to develop a homeland security-related strategic plan for all agencies. Yet the importance of this role should not be underestimated. The very process of working across agencies to develop and align the federal homeland security research enterprise around a forward-focused plan is critical to ensuring that future efforts support a common vision and goals, and that the metrics by which to measure national progress, and make changes as needed, are in place

Agreement between methods of measurement with multiple observations per individual

Limits of agreement provide a straightforward and intuitive approach to agreement between different methods for measuring the same quantity. When pairs of observations using the two methods are independent, i.e., on different subjects, the calculations are very simple and straightforward. Some authors collect repeated data, either as repeated pairs of measurements on the same subject, whose true value of the measured quantity may be changing, or more than one measurement by one or both methods of an unchanging underlying quantity. In this paper we describe methods for analysing such clustered observations, both when the underlying quantity is assumed to be changing and when it is not

Deuterium on Venus: Observations from Earth

In view of the importance of the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio in understanding the evolutionary scenario of planetary atmospheres and its relationship to understanding the evolution of our own Earth, we undertook a series of observations designed to resolve previous observational conflicts. We observed the dark side of Venus in the 2.3 micron spectral region in search of both H2O and HDO, which would provide us with the D/H ratio in Venus' atmosphere. We identified a large number of molecular lines in the region, belonging to both molecules, and, using synthetic spectral techniques, obtained mixing ratios of 34 plus or minus 10 ppm and 1.3 plus or minus 0.2 ppm for H2O and HDO, respectively. These mixing ratios yield a D/H ratio for Venus of D/H equals 1.9 plus or minus 0.6 times 10 (exp 12) and 120 plus or minus 40 times the telluric ratio. Although the detailed interpretation is difficult, our observations confirm that the Pioneer Venus Orbiter results and establish that indeed Venus had a period in its early history in which it was very wet, perhaps not unlike the early wet period that seems to have been present on Mars, and that, in contrast to Earth, lost much of its water over geologic time