RB30-245 Water Supply and Sewage Disposal Systems for Farm Homes

When the well "goes dry" or when the windmill or pump breaks down, every one in the household immediately appreciates the value fo plenty of water. In other words, "You never miss the water until the well runs dry." Fortunately, in most sections of this state, plenty of pure water may be obtained by sinking wells of moderate depth, yet surprisingly few farm homes are supplied with running water in the kitchen even though the barn yards are equipped with hydrants and tanks. It is the purpose of this bulletin to present a number of water supply and sewage disposal systems which have been used in Nebraska and surrounding states and which add greatly to the comfort and convenience of the farm home.

Essays on Industrial Organization and Environmental Economics

This dissertation studies environmental regulation issues in the hog production industry as well as forces behind the reorganization of the industry during the past two decades. Federal and State-level environmental regulations imposed on U.S. hog production during the year 2003 are examined in Chapter 1. Based on the number of regulations passed by the Federal government and states, the 2003 regulatory index is constructed. The regulatory stringency index suggests that state-level regulations vary across states and have increased over the years. In addition, state-level regulations are more stringent than federal regulations. Chapter 2 develops an empirically implementable theoretical model which allows us to investigate the long-run effects of environmental regulations on the U.S. hog industry. Hog feeding operations (HFOs) are divided into large feeding operations (LHFOs) and small feeding operations (SHFOs). The impact of the presence of a large number of LHFOs on the entry and exit of CHFOs is also examined. Results of this study suggest that: Increased state-level regulation stringency significantly lowers the output of SHFOs; increased state-level regulation stringency significantly lowers the output of LHFOs; increased state-level regulation stringency significantly lowers the number of SHFOs; SHFO output rises significantly in states that have a greater number of LHFOs; LHFO output rises significantly in states that have a greater number of LHFOs; the number of SHFOs significantly increases in states that have a greater numbers of LHFOs; regulation increases the average SHFO size; and regulation decreases the average LHFO size. Chapter 3 examines the importance of input availability, market attractiveness, agglomeration economies and environmental regulations on the reorganization of U.S. hog production for a panel of 22 U.S. hog producing states which include, Northern states, Southern states and Midwest states for the period 1994-2006. Results from this study suggest that: Hog production in a state is positively affected by hog production in a nearby state, confirming the presence of agglomeration economies; Environmental regulations and high corn price have negative effects on state-level U.S. hog production; High hog prices, and favorable labor cost, and land values attract hog production; and transportation cost has no effect on hog production. Advisors: Azzeddine Azzam and Karina Schoengold

Perturbative analysis of the triply differential cross section and circular dichroism in photo-double-ionization of He

We extend application of our lowest-order perturbative approach (in electron-electron correlation) for analysis of photo-double-ionization (PDI) of He [A.Y. Istomin et al., J. Phys. B 35, L543 (2002)] to excess energies up to 450 eV and to analysis of circular dichroism. We find that account of electron correlation in the final state to first order provides predictions for the triply differential cross section and circular dichroism that are in reasonable agreement with absolute data for excess energies up to 80 eV. For an excess energy of 450 eV, account of electron correlation in both initial and final states is necessary and the predicted triply differential cross sections are in agreement with absolute data only for large mutual ejection angles. We find that at excess energies of a few tens of eV, the PDI is dominated by the "virtual" knock-out mechanism, while the "direct" (on-shell) knock-out process gives only small contributions for large mutual ejection angles. As a result, we conclude that the circular dichroism effect at these energies originates from the nonzero electron Coulomb phase shifts.