Structural change has been occurring throughout the feed grains sector and has affected commodity markets and price forecasting relationships. Struc- tural changes that have affected feed grains stem from government policy such as the 1996 Farm Act, international trade agreements such as NAFTA, and changing consumer preferences. A statistical test of structural change is provided along with price forecasting models for corn, sorghum, barley, and oats. The models provide a framework to forecast season-average, farm- level prices and gauge the consistency of supply, demand, and price forecasts.

In a series of focus groups during 2001 and 2002, organic farmers from different regions of the United States identified a wide range of risks to their operations. The focus groups were facilitated by the University of Maryland in cooperation with a research team from USDA's Economic Research Service, to explore the risks faced by organic farmers, how they are managed, and needs for risk management assistance. Contamination of organic production from genetically modified organisms was seen as a major risk, particularly by grain, soybean and cotton farmers. Focus-group participants producing grains and cotton-many of whom knew about and had obtained crop insurance-raised concerns about coverage offered, including the need for insurance to reflect the higher prices received for organic crops. Most fruit and vegetable producers participating in the focus groups had little knowledge of crop insurance. When provided with basic information about crop insurance, operators of small fruit and vegetable farms were skeptical about its usefulness for their type of operation.

Summary The ideas of trainee primary teachers about the ozone layer have been examined. Students were well informed about the nature and location of the ozone layer and appreciated that it screens the Earth from ultraviolet (UV) rays, although some thought that it protects the Earth from acid rain. Most identified real causes of ozone layer depletion, but many thought that radioactivity and factory and vehicle emissions cause ozone layer degradation. Almost all realised that ozone depletion might cause more skin cancers; fewer recognised other potential biological problems. Many confused ozone layer depletion with global warming. The proportions holding these ideas were similar to those of older secondary school children, suggesting that misconceptions persist to the adult population. Since these ideas were found in final year trainee teachers, there is a danger that erroneous ideas or the attitudes based on them might be perpetuated in a formal learning context.

This paper presents operating temperatures for a 2756 mm (108.5″) 10-shoe thrust bearing installed in a vertical turbine generator in a pumped storage application. The rated output of the generator is 350 MW at a rotational speed of 257 RPM. Temperature data will be presented for shaft speed up to 257 RPM and loads that ranged from 8.00 to 11.12 MN (1.8 to 2½ million pounds) thrust. The data presented demonstrates the relative effect that the hydrostatic lift has on bearing operating temperatures. Some conclusions are drawn based upon the effect that the hydrostatic lift has on bearing operating temperatures.

Harris, C., Caseldine, C. J. & Chambers, W. J. 1987. Radiocarbon dating of a palaeosol buried by sediments of a former ice-dammed lake, Leirbreen, southern Norway. Norsk geogr. Tidsskr. Vol. 41, 81–90. Oslo. ISSN 0029-1951. Results of chemical, palynological and 14C analysis of a palaeosol buried by proglacial lake sediments are presented. The palaeosol resembled a thin Arctic Brown Soil. Chemical analyses and 14C dates indicated that the soil was relatively young and immature at its time of burial. Soil pollen showed a sparsely vegetated surface dominated by Graminaceae and Ranunculaceae during soil development. It is concluded that burial of the soil occurred as result of ‘Little Ice Age’ expansion of Leirbreen, probably around 200 years ago. The palaeosol is not considered to represent a Preboreal soil, but rather a phase of pedogenesis initiated sometime after 1400 Calendar years B.P.

In his recent rebuttal to my (1) criticism of death threat theory, Neimeyer (2) makes a number of contradictory comments concerning death threat. I have space to address only a few of these contradictions. First Neimeyer refers to a comment by Kelly (3) that death is the paradigmatically threatening event because it is incompatible, for most people, with life. In the original death threat theory publication, Kreiger, Epting and Leitner (4) make the same point. All of these authorities have somehow followed these references to Kelly by claiming that people who construe themselves as more like death are in fact less threatened, because death is consistent with the self. An obvious error in this reasoning emerges with the consideration of people who are threatened by the very similarity they see between themselves and death! Death threat theorists and Kelly are clearly seeing the general response to death in opposing ways.

It is proposed that many of the releasing or disinhibiting effects caused by models can be accounted for by information-processing mechanisms, without recourse to the concept of reinforcement. More specifically, it is suggested that the process of viewing a model's behavior involves the activation of an interpretive schema. This renders the information the schema incorporates more accessible for subsequent use. If the schema incorporates (or is closely related to) behavior-specifying information, that information becomes more accessible as well, thus making it more likely to influence overt behavior. Two studies are reported that assessed the plausibility of this reasoning. In Experiment 1 subjects who had viewed an aggressive model perceived greater hostility in the behavior of an ambiguous stimulus person that they subsequently encountered than did control subjects. This finding is consistent with the assumption that the model's behavior activated a conceptual schema for use in interpretation. In Experiment 2 subjects in whom an aggressive schema had been activated under a guise displayed greater aggression in their subsequent behavior in a different context than did control subjects. This finding is consistent with the assumption that activating the conceptual schema also activated behavioral information. The discussion centers on the implications of the findings.

According to personal construct theory the personality is shaped by the constructs the person uses in anticipating events. In this study grid measures of logically inconsistent construction and preemptive or reductionistic construction are compared with scores from the 16 P.F. Questionnaire. Logical inconsistency was correlated with several traits suggesting neuroticism. Preemption was correlated with several traits suggesting an incredulous approach to life. These results are in agreement with the theoretical assertions of personal construct psychology.

The Kiddie-SADS-E is a structured psychiatric interview designed to elicit and record past episodes of child and adolescent psychiatric disorder. In order to test the accuracy of retrospective diagnoses made with this instrument, a blind interviewer reassessed 17 children. The children had been initially evaluated with a parallel instrument, the K-SADS-P (present episode), between 6 months and 2 years prior to reassessment. Diagnostic agreement between the two different assessments of the same episode of disorder was high. Although this is only a pilot study, it does suggest that the retrospective assessment of child psychopathology based on interviews with parent and child may be a technique capable of yielding reliable information.

Growth patterns in previously unmedicated hyperactive boys were assessed monthly for 1 year or more while they received treatment with d-amphetamine (N = 13) or phenothiazines (N = 8). The d-amphetamine group, who sustained their behavior improvement throughout the study, underwent sleep and endocrine studies before and after 6 months on drug therapy. By 1 year, the phenothiazine group had achieved a 7-point increase in weight percentile and a 4-percentile gain in height, but the d-amphetamine group had lost 16 percentile points in weight and 10 percentile points in height. Height and weight velocities had fallen significantly (p < 0.001, p < 0.005) for the entire d-amphetamine group by 1 year, and remained low in a subgroup of 8 followed for an additional 9 months. While there were no d-amphetamine effects on growth hormone secretion or on sleep paramenters, mean-sleep-related prolactin concentrations during treatment fell significantly (p < 0.015). The inhibition of height velocity was significantly correlated with the prolactin suppression (Pearson r = 0.57, p < 0.05) for the d-amphetamine group.

(1) Plasma cortisol was measured every 20 min for 10–24 hr in 4 prepubertal children fitting unmodified Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for major depressive disorder, endogenous subtype. (2) Hormonal assessments were made before treatment and after clinical recovery. (3) Two of the 4 subjects presented evidence of cortisol hypersecretion during illness, subsiding after clinical recovery, similar to that seen in adult endogenous depressives. (4) These preliminary data support the hypothesis that child and adult major depressive disorders are basically the same illness occurring at different points in development.

A group of 13 prepubertal children fitting unmodified Research Diagnostic Criteria for major depressive disorder in adults was identified. The clinical characteristics of the group are described as well as the results of an open trial of imipramine. Pilot data from this study point to the possibility that adult and prepubertal major depressive disorders are basically the same illness occurring at different points in development.