Advanced composite airframe program: Today's technology

The Advanced Composite Airframe Program (ACAP) was undertaken to demonstrate the advantages of the application of advanced composite materials and structural design concepts to the airframe structure on helicopters designed to stringent military requirements. The primary goals of the program were the reduction of airframe production costs and airframe weight by 17 and 22 percent respectively. The ACAP effort consisted of a preliminary design phase, detail design, and design support testing, full-scale fabrication, laboratory testing, and a ground/flight test demonstration. Since the completion of the flight test demonstration programs follow-on efforts were initiated to more fully evaluate a variety of military characteristics of the composite airframe structures developed under the original ACAP advanced development contracts. An overview of the ACAP program is provided and some of the design features, design support testing, manufacturing approaches, and the results of the flight test evaluation, as well as, an overview of Militarization Test and Evaluation efforts are described

On a Uniformly Accelerated Point Charge moving along a Cusp

A uniformly accelerated point charge which moves neither in a straight line nor in a circle, but in a cusp, is investigated. We find the angular distribution of the Larmor radiation, the constant power, and the intensity in the maximal direction. It is found that the intensity of uniformly accelerated cusp motion scales like non-uniformly accelerated synchrotron radiation. We confirm the exact vacuum excitation spectra of quantized field detectors on the world line.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Master of Science

thesisThe Nugget Sandstone is a Triassic/Jurassic eolianite in western North America. It represents a portion of one of the largest dune environments to have ever existed in the geologic record. Paleontological interest in the Nugget Sandstone has grown in recent years upon numerous discoveries of vertebrate and invertebrate body fossils, trace fossils, and plant fossils. Invertebrate trace fossils in the Nugget Sandstone near Vernal, Utah, are identified, described and highlighted in this study, with an overview of past fossil discoveries in the Nugget and Navajo sandstones. Invertebrate trace fossils in this area include Entradichnus meniscus, Entradichnus isp., Planolites beverleyensis, Taenidium isp. "A," Taenidium isp. "B," Skolithos and Planolites isp., ‘burrow clusters', ‘large oblique burrows', ‘flared burrows', Paleohelcura, and Octopodichnus. Arthropods, such as insects and arachnids, are considered possible trace makers. Vertebrate trace fossils of this same area include Brasilichnium, Grallator, Eubrontes, Brachychirotherium, Pseudotetrasauropus, Tetrasauropus, and Otozoum. Possible sphenophytes, cycads, and algal build-ups comprise the evidence for primary production in the ecosystem. Sediment moisture must have played a key role in the production and preservation of all trace fossils in the Nugget Sandstone. Because of this, these trace fossils indicate that moisture was important for supporting such complex ecosystems, and that extended wet climatic intervals must have persisted intermittently between arid intervals. With fossil evidence for primary production, herbivorous insects, and carnivorous arachnids provided in this thesis, as well as indirect evidence for environmental moisture content during deposition of the Nugget Sandstone, a more complete picture of the paleoecology of this ancient sea of sand can be constructed

1997 PRICING PERFORMANCE OF MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES FOR CORN AND SOYBEANS

The purpose of this research report is to present an evaluation of advisory service pricing performance in 1997 for corn and soybeans. Specifically, the average price received by a subscriber to an advisory service is calculated for corn and soybean crops harvested in 1997. The average net advisory price across all 23 corn programs is $2.32 per bushel. The net advisory prices for corn range from a minimum of$2.00 per bushel to a maximum of $2.74 per bushel. The average net advisory price across all 21 soybean programs is$6.40 per bushel. The net advisory prices for soybeans range from a minimum of $6.08 per bushel to a maximum of$6.99 per bushel.evaluation of advisory services, pricing performance, soybeans, C8, D4, D8, L1, M3, Q0, Z0, Marketing,

1996 PRICING PERFORMANCE OF MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES FOR CORN AND SOYBEANS

The purpose of this research report is to present an evaluation of advisory service pricing performance in 1996 for corn and soybeans. Specifically, the average price received by a subscriber to an advisory service is calculated for corn and soybean crops harvested in 1996. The average net advisory price across all 26 corn programs is $2.63 per bushel. The range of net advisory prices for corn is quite large, with a minimum of$2.08 per bushel and a maximum of $3.12 per bushel. The average net advisory price across all 24 soybean programs is$7.27 per bushel. As with corn, the range of net advisory prices for soybeans is substantial, with a minimum of $6.80 per bushel and a maximum of$7.80 per bushel.Agricultural Market Advisory Services, G1, D8, D7, D4, G2, H4, H8, Q1, Z1, Marketing,

DO AGRICULTURAL MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES BEAT THE MARKET? EVIDENCE FROM THE CORN AND SOYBEAN MARKETS OVER 1995-1997

The purpose of this paper is to address two basic performance questions for market advisory services: 1) Do market advisory services, on average, outperform an appropriate market benchmark? and 2) Do market advisory services exhibit persistence in their performance from year-to-year? Data on corn and soybean net price received for advisory services, as reported by the AgMAS Project, are available for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 marketing years. Performance test results suggest that, on average, market advisory services exhibit a small ability to "beat the market" for the 1995 through 1997 corn and soybean crops. This conclusion is somewhat sensitive to the type of performance test and market benchmark considered. The predictability results provide little evidence that future advisory service pricing performance can be predicted from past performance. When services are grouped by performance quantile, some evidence of predictability is found for the poorest performing services, but not for top performing services.Marketing,

1995 PRICING PERFORMANCE OF MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES FOR CORN AND SOYBEANS

The purpose of this research report is to present an evaluation of advisory service pricing performance in 1995 for corn and soybeans. Specifically, the average price received by a subscriber to an advisory service is calculated for corn and soybean crops harvested in 1995. The average net advisory price across all 25 corn programs is $3.04 per bushel. The range of net advisory prices for corn is quite large, with a minimum of$2.34 per bushel and a maximum of $3.81 per bushel. The average net advisory price across all 25 soybean programs is$6.61 per bushel. As with corn, the range of net advisory prices for soybeans is substantial, with a minimum of $5.75 per bushel and a maximum of$7.92 per bushel.Agricultural Market Advisory Service (AgMAS) Project, D4, D7, D8, G1, G2, H4, H8, Q1, Z1, Marketing,

DEVELOPMENT OF A MARKET BENCHMARK PRICE FOR AGMAS PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS

The purpose of this research report is to identify the appropriate market benchmark price to use to evaluate the pricing performance of market advisory services that are included in the annual AgMAS pricing performance evaluations. Five desirable properties of market benchmark prices are identified. Three potential specifications of the market benchmark price are considered: the average price received by Illinois farmers, the harvest cash price, and the average cash price over a two-year crop marketing window. The average cash price meets all of the desired properties, except that it would not be easily implementable by producers. It can be shown, though, that the price realized via a more manageable strategy of "spreading" sales during the marketing window very closely approximates the average cash price. Therefore, it is determined that the average cash price meets all five selection criteria, and is the most appropriate market benchmark to be used in evaluating the pricing performance of market advisory services.advisory services, evaluating the pricing performance, market benchmark price, C8, C0, D4, D8, L1, M3, Q0, Z0, Marketing,

THE PRIVATE SECTOR APPROACH TO GRAIN MARKETING: THE CASE OF AGRICULTURAL MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pricing performance and behavior of market advisory services in corn and soybeans. Data on corn and soybean net price received for advisory services, as reported by the AgMAS Project, are available for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 marketing years. Performance test results suggest that, on average, market advisory services exhibit a small ability to "beat the market". This conclusion is somewhat sensitive to the type of performance test and market benchmark considered. The predictability results provide little evidence that future advisory service pricing performance can be predicted from past performance. Marketing profiles identify three marketing "styles": i) "scale-up" sales, ii) selective hedging and iii) "speculative" hedging. Advisory services tend to follow the same approach across crop years.Agribusiness,

The effects of overstory retention on species composition and height growth following clearcut and group selection regeneration harvests in the Missouri Ozark Highlands

The objectives of this study focus on whether treatment and aspect significantly influence tree regeneration. This study utilizes data from 16-year-old clearcuts and group openings within the Missouri Ozarks to assess the height and quantity of regenerating tree species. Additionally, a qualitative review of the efficacy of height reference charts developed by Vickers et al. (2017) was completed. Analysis of the sampled population revealed that trees had significantly greater mean heights within group openings compared to clearcuts, and the mean height of trees regenerating on protected slopes was significantly greater than trees on exposed slopes. The white oak group had significantly greater mean heights on protected slopes compared to exposed slopes and in group openings compared to clearcuts. Red and white oaks had significantly more individuals within clearcuts compared to group openings. When only trees within the tallest ten percent (90th percentile of height) of all sampled individuals were analyzed, there were significant differences in mean height and trees per hectare for regenerating oaks between the two treatments and aspects. Specifically, there were significantly more oaks above the 90th percentile within clearcuts, but oaks were significantly taller within group openings compared to clearcuts. Review of the height reference charts developed by Vickers et al. (2017) show that the charts can be effectively used to assess the 90th percentile of 16-year-old trees within clearcuts. Trees growing within group openings analyzed with the reference charts show that there were consistent differences from the data collected and the charts developed for clearcuts. For example, the red oak species group measured within group openings was consistently below the 90th percentile threshold shown for clearcuts, and white oaks within group openings on exposed slopes were taller than the expected 90th percentile line. Therefore, reference charts should be developed specifically for trees within group openings.by Guerric Thomas GoodIncludes bibliographical reference