A Spatial Analysis of Farm Payment Recipients Using the FSA 1614 Dataset

We report results from preliminary analysis of the recently constructed dataset from the Farm Service Agency, FSA 1614. FSA 1614 provides the location of the farm and the farm payment recipient for all Title I payments. This makes it possible to analyze the spatial dispersion between landowner and farm more precisely than previously possible. A discussion of what research questions could be informed through the use of this data is provided. We find that a significant percentage of payments are sent to individuals that are likely to be absentee landowners, although this value is much smaller when looking at the total value of payments. These national results are compared to four corn belt states.Agricultural Finance,

Effect of Correlation on Multi-Engine Rocket Propulsion Systems

A matter of great concern in the design and operation of multi-engine rocket propulsion systems is the effect of the premature shutdown of one engine on the vehicle. This probability that a premature shutdown will cause a vehicle loss is termed correlation. Based on airbreathing experiences as well as rocket engine data the best estimate of this correlation is made and then applied to the overall multi-engine reliability problem to demonstrate its potential effect. At this point, follow-on analyses are pointed out that illustrate how any potential failures that may cause a correlatable event can be eliminated; thus bringing this correlation to almost 0

Low cost silicon solar array project. Task 1: Establishment of the feasibility of a process capable of low cost, high volume production of silane, SiH4

The kinetics of the redistribution of dichlorosilane and trichlorosilane vapor over a tertiary amine ion exchange resin catalyst were investigated. The hydrogenation of SiCl4 to form HSiCl3 and the direct synthesis of H2SiCl2 from HCl gas and metallurgical silicon metal were also studied. The purification of SiH4 using activated carbon adsorbent was studied along with a process for storing SiH4 absorbed on carbon. The latter makes possible a higher volumetric efficiency than compressed gas storage. A mini-plant designed to produce ten pounds per day of SiH4 is described

Physical-virtual workspaces

Connecting Physical and Virtual mediums From a product design standpoint, we are encountering demands for solutions that exist between hard and soft mediums, and there is a need for workspaces that can support and connect both the physical and virtual development of such ideas. These hybrid products are bridging a gap between our physical and virtual experiences and creating new challenges as well as new solutions. In essence, they are serving to connect the tangible and the intangible aspects of our lives. My thesis is focused on the connection between the physical and virtual mediums of information and experience. I hope to explore the workspace as a stage for composing such creative content that includes aspects which are both tangible and intangible. The design explorations will consider the balanced relationship of user experience and social interaction within the working space where intangible ideas are transformed into a tangible reality. The goal is to develop a creative workspace that can be used to form and develop new ideas. The supportive stage would provide the space and means for accessing and manipulating both physical and virtual content, serving as an integrated interface allowing users the ability to fluidly express their ideas in both digital and material mediums. Interfaces between Physical and Virtual mediums As an example, technology represents a body of intangible knowledge that is applied in the physical world. This process transforms information into three dimensional representations which people can interact with. Most importantly, these objects have the ability to represent more than just knowledge alone. They have the potential to incorporate human concepts of thoughts, dreams, emotions, and memory that collectively reinforce the human experience. For these reasons, it is worthwhile to investigate the spatial form and visual representation of such ethereal aspects of information and experience to take the science of technology beyond the impersonal \u27black box\u27 of wires and circuitry. Such product solutions require the successful development of their applications and context sensitive scenarios as well as the form and packaging of their overall embodiment. As technology becomes an ever-increasing part of our lives, a growing challenge for humankind will be to preserve its essential role of expressing and acting out the very nature of what it means to be human in tandem with the developments of design. In order to sustain a prosperous quality of life, our progress in technology and design must preserve humanity by preserving the human experience. To address such concerns, my thesis exploration will focus on investigating applications of technology that connect the physical and virtual experience through a tangible interface which encourages human interaction. The idea is to create a human-centered design rather than one focused on technology alone. With the growing level of connectedness within a networked world, there is an increasing need for the development of product solutions that aid humans in making and maintaining a more beneficial, productive, and enjoyable connectedness with each other and the world around them. Such hybrid products of the future will be challenged to integrate both hard and soft mediums in connecting tangible and intangible forms of information and experience. This will involve the parallel development of product systems which include three-dimensional material structures with integrated interfaces to components of digital multimedia content. The focus of this study views all technology, to some degree, as being purely tacit knowledge until it is applied through a physical manifestation or application. This process of transformation moves information from one medium to another and requires a fluid interface at the point of transition. Although transparent technology can be viewed as an appealing notion to avoid clutter and information overload within such a setting, there is an essential need for real, physical human interaction. An important question is: How can humanness be preserved within such a designed experience? One of the problems which emphasizes the lack of such qualities is evident in today\u27s information workers who are \u27losing touch\u27 with the human intangibles of creative thought, dreams, emotions, memories, and sensations. To improve the design of such interfaces, we must ask, How do objects or environments represent these ideas in a physical way to reinforce, confirm, acknowledge and draw us closer to our sense of what it means to be human? . These issues can be explored in the context of a creative workspace. This point of interaction and exchange is basically an information interface where ideas are transformed from one medium to another. The scenario describes a situation where a user needs to access and interact with intangible information in a tangible way. Several problems which arise include virtual isolation, information overload, and a general disconnected separation of the physical and non-physical worlds. Potential solutions could offer improvement through the evolution of tangible interfaces for intangible experiences. Such concepts would attempt to connect users with dynamic and transparent technology through an integrated physical interface. My proposal is to develop a creative workspace that connects the physical and virtual aspects of information and experience. The proposed design will address the needs of middle-aged people interacting with each other, information, and technology. The creative workspace would act as an interface where information is transformed between physical and digital mediums. Such a design would be used in creative applications at any given moment when there is a need to access, transfer, or transform information. The setting of the design would be placed in an office, studio environment, or point of interaction and exchange for both private and group collaborations. Its purpose would be to support the need to connect to an intangible experience or access intangible information to be applied in a physical way. The design will attempt to create a hybrid, tactile-physical interface that combines aspects of both hard and soft mediums to assist in the organization and transformation of information. The argument of this thesis suggests that the integration of both physical and virtual space within creative workspace environments serves to ultimately improve the meaningful connections between humans, their work, and their interactive experiences

Low Cost Silicon Solar Array Project. Feasibility of Low-cost, High-volume Production of Silane and Pyrolysis of Silane to Semiconductor-grade Silicon

The presence of copper promotes a more rapid approach to the steady stete operating condition and results in a more consistent reactor effluent composition. The average kinetic and equilibrium yield are unchanged. Incoloy has been identified as the preferred choice of material of construction for the hydrogenation reactor although certain metallurgical changes were noted in samples exposed to the H2/HCl atmosphere at 500 C which indicate the need for more testing

High purity silane and silicon production

Silicon tetrachloride, hydrogen and metallurgical silicon are reacted at about 400.degree.-600.degree. C. and at pressures in excess of 100 psi, and specifically from about 300 up to about 600 psi to form di- and trichlorosilane that is subjected to disproportionation in the presence of an anion exchange resin to form high purity silane. By-product and unreacted materials are recycled, with metallurgical silicon and hydrogen being essentially the only consumed feed materials. The silane product may be further purified, as by means of activated carbon or cryogenic distillation, and decomposed in a fluid bed or free space reactor to form high purity polycrystalline silicon and by-product hydrogen which can be recycled for further use. The process results in simplified waste disposal operations and enhances the overall conversion of metallurgical grade silicon to silane and high purity silicon for solar cell and semiconductor silicon applications

EVALUATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MENTORING PROGRAM FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICE COORDINATORS IN ALLEGHENY COUNTY

Serious and persistent mental illnesses (SPMI) are the most costly diagnoses in the United States (Insel, 2003). There are significant financial costs associated with these psychiatric disabilities, including the costs associated with treatment and loss of wages, as well as significant social costs, including lack of social support, poverty, and inadequate available treatment services.Case managers are the mental health staff members who spend the greatest amount of time in direct contact with people with SPMI in the community. There are widespread problems in the case management workforce. Case managers have inadequate education, work experience, and on-the-job training for the amount of responsibilities that are required in their jobs. It is a career that offers limited opportunities for advancement, low salaries, and low retention.In Allegheny county, a major mental health system reform was implemented called SPA (Single Point of Accountability). One of its goals was the implementation of a Case Management Mentor Program, which was designed to provide consistent training for behavioral health case managers, develop a career ladder in case management, and help new case managers learn their jobs.This dissertation was a mixed methods study using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and survey data to understand the barriers and facilitators to implementation of the program from the perspectives of the case managers and how the type of mentoring they received contributed to the mentee job satisfaction. The study sample consisted of 18 mentors who participated in the Service Coordination Mentor Certificate Course and 30 mentees that were trained in their new jobs at their respective agencies.Overall, mentoring was associated with higher job satisfaction. Support from a mentor during crisis situations was most significantly associated with job satisfaction. All of the participants reported that mentoring is needed and beneficial in case management. Over the course of implementation, most mentees consistently participated in a variety of mentoring activities with their mentors and overall, reported that these were very helpful. The activity that that participants reported to be most helpful, but occurred the least frequently, was the mentor having the opportunity to observe the mentee in the field

Stream microcosm toxicity tests: Colonizing test organisms and predicting the effects of fenvalerate on riffle insect communities

Small streams and rivers draining agricultural watersheds are frequently exposed to hazardous chemicals. Unfortunately, chemical registration procedures currently do not include standardized protocols capable of predicting chemical impacts in lotic ecosystems. Three experiments were conducted utilizing artificial streams and rock-filled artificial substrates in an attempt to further standardize stream microcosm test procedures. In the first experiment stream microcosms were used to predict the effects of a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide on riffle insect communities. Aquatic macroinvertebrates colonized on artificial substrates were placed in artificial streams and dosed in triplicate at 0.0, 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, and 10.0 ug/L fenvalerate (cyano (3-phenoxyphenyl) methyl-4- chloro-alpha-(1-methylethyl) benzeneacetate) for a 30-day period. The stream microcosms dosed at 0.1 ug/L fenvalerate exhibited significant (p ≤ 0.05) reductions in species richness and total density following the 30-day toxicity test. Artificial substrates placed in a natural riffle area during the second experiment were randomly sampled at weekly intervals for a seven week period to determine an optimal colonization period and to compare the artificial and natural substrate communities. Riffle insect communities colonizing the artificial substrates reached species equilibrium and maximum densities by weeks one and four, respectively. Artificial substrates were selectively colonized by collector-filterers, and collector-gatherers were more abundant in the natural substrate. The final experiment was conducted in an attempt to reduce colonization periods and collect artificial substrate communities more representative of natural riffle insect communities. Macroinvertebrates were colonized in artificial substrates, embedded and unembedded in the natural substrate, that were either uncolonized or precolonized with periphyton. Precolonized-unembedded substrates were colonized by significantly (p ≤ 0.05) greater densities than the other experimental groups on week one. Unembedded substrate were colonized by riffle insect communities functionally more similar to the natural stream community than the embedded substrates