Is the United States Falling Apart?

This is a preprint (author's original) version of the article published in Daedalus 126(2):183-209. The final version of the article can be found at http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027433 (login required to view content). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author.Author's Origina

Multidimensional computer simulation of Stirling cycle engines

This report summarizes the activities performed under NASA-Grant NAG3-1097 during 1991. During that period, work centered on the following tasks: (1) to investigate more effective solvers for ALGAE; (2) to modify the plotting package for ALGAE; and (3) to validate ALGAE by simulating oscillating flow problems similar to those studied by Kurzweg and Ibrahim

Repeat Buying Behavior for Ornamental Plants: A Consumer Profile

The main objective of this research was to study what stimulates repeat buying behavior for ornamental plants by segmenting consumer demographics and other important variables in the purchasing decision for ornamental plants. Specifically, we looked at the number of transactions per month as a function of the purpose of the purchase. Consumer’s behavioral and socio-demographic characteristics that are more likely to influence the number of ornamental transactions were also identified.Green Industry, flower demand, consumer preferences, Consumer/Household Economics, Marketing, M31, R22,

The construction of a null basis for a discrete divergence operator

AbstractThe divergence free finite element method (DFFEM) is a method to find an approximate solution of the Navier-Stokes equations in a divergence free space. That is, the continuity equation is satisfied a priori. DFFEM eliminates the pressure from the calculations and significantly reduces the dimension of the system to be solved at each time step. For the standard 9-node velocity and 4-node pressure DFFEM, a basis for the divergence-free subspace is constructed such that each basis function has nonzero support on at most 4 contiguous elements. Given this basis, discretely divergence free macro elements can be constructed and used in the implementation of the DFFEM

A Non-Hypothetical and Incentive Compatible Method for Estimating Consumer Willingness-to-Pay for a Novel Functional Food: The Case of Pomegranates

A preference and valuation mechanism that compared results of an experimental auction and nonhypothetical preference rankings was developed and used to elicit preferences for pomegranate products from a representative sample of shoppers in Texas. Familiarity with pomegranate products increased willingness-to-pay (WTP) for pomegranates, as did tasting and providing additional information on the health benefits of the products. Ready-to-eat and juice products were preferred to whole fruit products. Subjects did not indicate an increased WTP for Texas varieties over California Wonderful pomegranate based on auction bids but indicated a preference for one Texas variety in the nonhypothetical ranking procedure; thus, the auction results and nonhypothetical preference ranking procedures were divergent. Further, there were interaction effects of the information treatments with the product characteristics.willingness-to-pay, pomegranate, experimental auction, ranking, health, novel product, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, D12, Q13,

Galerkin approximations for initial value problems with known end time conditions

AbstractGalerkin's method is used to approximate the transient solutions of intial value problems in which a steady state or advanced time state is known. A convergence theorem is established and choices of basis functions are discussed. The method is then applied to systems arising from nuclear reactor kinetics theory and the semi-discretization of parabolic two-point boundary value problems

Agribusiness Capstone Courses Design: Objectives and Strategies

This paper discusses the benefits of using strategic management principles as the cornerstone for building the agribusiness capstone experience. The necessity for agribusiness firms to create and implement strategies that build a sustainable competitive advantage in turn necessitates the development of strategic management skills in the leaders/managers of the future. As such, the objectives of a capstone course lean heavily toward the integrative development of strategic decision-making competence. This has a number of implications for the capstone professor in terms of course content, pedagogies, and subsequent measurement of student performance.Agribusiness, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

PUBLIC MARKETS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRESH-PRODUCE INDUSTRY

Agribusiness,