Showing papers by "University of Missouri published in 1968"

Estimating the Productivity of Agricultural Pesticides

Abstract: The controversy surrounding the use of agricultural pesticides has resulted in the examination of pest control technology and a need for estimates of the costs and benefits of pesticides. Estimates of the productivity of expenditures for agricultural pesticides are made from an aggregate production function analysis for 1963. The results indicate that chemical pesticides are a highly productive input, comparable to commercial fertilizer, and that the marginal value product of pesticides exceeds marginal factor cost by a considerable amount. These results are consistent with increasing sales volumes of pesticides and fertilizer nationally. Use of values determined through the market system to estimate benefits are a necessary part of evaluating chemical pest control. Up to the present time, no systematic effort has been made to estimate separately the productivity of pesticides. The findings point to a need for better data on the response of crops and livestock to pest control as well as a need for data on the external effects of chemical pesticides. Considerably more analysis and information are required to evaluate pesticide technology and to form good national policy in this area.

Elasticity of Product Bias

Abstract: When entering the U.S. market, every foreign producer faces certain tangible barriers such as quotas and tariffs. In addition, foreign sellers may face serious intangible barriers like consumer bias based on product origin [3]. Eventually unwarranted biases may disappear, and goods may come to be judged on the basis

Discrimination learning as the summation of excitation and inhibition.

Abstract: Pigeons received either excitatory, inhibitory, or combined excitatory and inhibitory (intradimensional) training to discriminate line-tilt stimuli. Algebraic summation of relative-generalization gradients obtained after separate excitatory and inhibitory training sessions was used to predict characteristics of gradients after intradimensional training. The good agreement between obtained and predicted gradients provided support for gradient-interaction theory.

Statistical Analysis of Identities in Random Variables

Abstract: A random variable of economic interest is sometimes an identity function of two or more separate variables; for example, crop income per acre is the product of price and yield. This article presents a method for partitioning the variance of such a random variable into components that can be associated with the separate random variables in the identity and interactions among them. Under some statistical assumptions on the variables involved, the converse of the partitioning procedure is useful for deriving the variance of a random variable from the moments of the separate variables of the identity.

The Total Energy Environment of Severe Storms

Abstract: The distribution in time and space of the total specific energy (cpT + gZ + Lq + V2/2) of the environment of severe storms is examined. Comparison of the total energy profiles of tornado proximity soundings with the closest check soundings show pronounced differences. The tornado proximity sounding has substantially higher total energy values in the lower troposphere and lower values in the mid-troposphere than nearby stations. It is shown that the total specific energy may be approximated with negligible error by the static energy (cpT + gZ + Lw) and that this parameter is proportional to isobaric equivalent potential temperature and is similarly conservative. A practical application of these results to severe storm forecasting is given in the form of a “Total Energy Index.” This index is readily and objectively determined from routinely transmitted upper air data. Unlike other widely used stability indices, the Energy Index indicates not only the energy release associated with the ascending, po...

Flint Clay and a Flint-Clay Facies

Abstract: Flint clay is denned as a sedimentary, microcrystalline to crystalline clay (rock) composed dominantly of kaolin, which breaks with a pronounced conchoidal fracture and resists slaking in water Additional ceramic (refractory) properties are implied, but not expressed, in the definition Flint clay first given recognition in the USA, has been observed on all continents; it will probably be found to be more abundant than its occurrences reported to date It occurs in rocks mainly Carboniferous or Cretaceous in age, and is invariably associated with plant- or coal-bearing measures The environment of deposition is commonly lowlying paludal, in basins in either clastic silicate rocks or in karstic carbonates It is inferred that parent illitic and/or kaolinitic clay colloids were transported into the swamps and there under-went further dialysis, alteration, and eventual crystallization in situ, producing a notably homogeneous kaolinite clay possessing interlocking crystallinity Some occurrences were further desilicated to high-alumina minerals, particularly to diaspore and boehmite Flint clay is interpreted as being an intermediate member of a so-called flint-clay facies which is a claystone sequence ranging from high-alumina minerals (or potentially so) formed on the highest part, structurally and/or topographically, of the depositional area, and grading down-structure and/or lower in elevation through flint clay to iliite-kaolinite plastic clay and thence to marine illitic shale, all being equivalent stratigraphically The geochemical reactions are depotassification of parent clay by substitution of K+ by H+, and desilication, especially where high-alumina minerals are formed

Generalization gradients of inhibition after different amounts of training1

Abstract: Five groups of pigeons received seven sessions of variable-interval reinforcement for pecking a blank white key, followed by either 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 sessions of training on a successive discrimination in which the positive stimulus was the blank white key and the negative stimulus was a black vertical line on the white key. After training, a generalization test was administered along the line-tilt continuum. Relative gradients of inhibition became steeper with increased amounts of training, and reliably nonhorizontal absolute gradients were obtained only from groups of subjects with at least four days of training. Therefore, inhibitory stimulus control improves with added training. Several problems with the concept of “inhibition” are examined and some implications of the results for theoretical analyses of operant discrimination learning are discussed.

The Concept of Alliance

Abstract: In April, 1965, the Subcommittee on National Security and International Operations of the Senate Committee on Government Operations indicated its intention to inquire into the status of American alliance commitments. The inquiry was designed to begin an analysis of the underlying premises upon which American alliance policy was based. Specifically the Subcommittee raised the following questions:

Incidence of Arrhythmias in the Dog Following Transthoracic Ventricular Defibrillation with Unidirectional Rectangular Stimuli

Abstract: The incidence of the various types of arrhythmia induced by defibrillation in anesthetized dogs that had had continous ventricular fibrillation for 30 seconds was studied as a function of the current strengh and the duration of the unidirectional rectangular pulse used to terminate the fibrillation. Shocks at 10, 20, 40, 80, and 100 amp with durations in the range of 80 µsec through 64 msec were used. At any given energy level the incidence of induced arrhythmias was much larger for the 40-, 80-, and 100-amp shocks than for the 10- and 20-amp shocks. At 10 and 20 amp, the incidence of induced arrhythmias increased with increasing energy content. Premature ventricular contractions were observed at nearly all levels of energy and current, in contrast to other types of arrhythmias that appear to be strongly related to energy content or current amplitude or both.

Similarity Parameter for Two-Stream Turbulent Jet-Mixing Region

Abstract: u = velocity component in .XT-direction Ua = velocity in faster freestream Ub = velocity in slower freestream X, Y = coordinates in the reference coordinate system 77 = dimensionless position; rj = aY/X = dimensionless velocity; = u/Ua 06 = velocity ratio of the two streams; <£& = Ub/Ua

Relation of monoamine oxidase activity and collagen crosslinking in copper-deficient and control tissues.

Abstract: SummaryThere is an inverse relationship between monoamine oxidase activity and the proportion of salt soluble collagen in connective tissues from copper-deficient and control chicks. Copper deficiency resulted in a markedly higher concentration of salt soluble collagen in aorta (4-5-fold) and tendon (2-3-fold) than in tissues from pair-fed controls. Total collagen remained relatively constant except that copper deficiency decreased the total collagen in skin. Amine oxidase activity was significantly lower in aorta, tendon, cartilage, and skin from deficient chicks while the activities in muscle and brain were not affected. Using the degree of solubility as a criterion of maturation, it was concluded that copper is essential for catalysis of collagen crosslinking.

Selected Physiological and Psychomotor Correlates of Depression in Psychiatric Patients

Abstract: Selected physiological and psychomotor variables of depressed and nondepressed psychiatric patients were investigated. A comparison of the fractionated MMPI D Scale and Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) was also made. A further subsidiary problem studied was the role of alcoholism in depression as it contributed to selected physiological and psychomotor variables. Participants in this study consisted of 69 male psychiatric patients between the ages of 20 and 50 years. All patients were tested within 48 hours after admission to the Toledo State Hospital and prior to the administration of medication. Previous research indicating that motor dysfunction was closely related to the degree of psychopathology was generally not substantiated by this investigation. It was concluded that the patient's verbalization of physiological and psychomotor retardation appeared to mirror his affective state rather than his physical competence. The SDS appeared to be the most efficacious method of assessing qu...