Reletting the Abandoned or Defaulted Public Works Project in New York- To Bid or Not to Bid?

The general requirement that contracts for public works be let pursuant to advertisements for bids to the lowest responsible bidder has long been the law in New York and other jurisdictions. After determining that the mandatory statutory pronouncements apply to a particular contract, there is an entire second level problem of the propriety of bids and the awarding of the contract pursuant thereto. Suppose a contractor has defaulted or abandoned a valid public works contract. Must the public entity now readvertise for bids for the completion of the work? The answer in most instances is no, and this raises the disconcerting specter of a single unsupervised public official having the power to let potentially huge contracts. Of course the size of the relet contract is not the prime consideration. The key point is that the laboriously developed bidding laws can be circumvented in default and abandonment situations, resulting in favortism for the contractor and a bad bargain for the taxpayers. However, the other side of the question is equally vexing. An abandoned or defaulted contract may require immediate continuation or remedial action. If such situations do not fit into the public emergency exception, must the public body expend the time, effort, and expense to analyze the supplies needed or work remaining, formulate proposed contracts, and advertise for bids? This article will analyse this difficulty in the context of the confusing and conflicting status of the legal requirements in New York for the reletting of abandoned or defaulted work

Investigation of the Static Mixer for Improved Heat Transfer to Black Liquors

The objective of this experiment was to determine an improved method by which evaporation of kraft black liquors to the 50 to 65% total solids level could be sufficiently performed in multiple effect evaporators. This would eliminate the need of the highly malordorous direct contact evaporators which are presently used. Heat transfer characteristics of the Kenics Static Mixer were examined to determine if its application in multiple effect evaporator tubes would possibly reduce viscous liquor film layers which now hinder heat transfer. A single pass heat exchange unit that allowed removal of the inner tube and its replacement by a Static Mixer unit was designed and built. Heat and mass balances were performed on the unit to determine possible gains in heat transfer achieved using the Static Mixer. Experimentation done in the laminar regions of flow showed that the inside film coefficient was enhanced a slight, but significant amount. It is recommended that further study be made at higher liquor concentrations and at turbulent flow conditions

Discussion on Muon Collider Parameters at Center of Mass Energies from 0.1 TeV to 100 TeV

Some of the potential capabilities and design challenges of muon colliders are illustrated using self-consistent collider parameter sets at center of mass energies ranging from 0.1 TeV to 100 TeV.Comment: 3 pages, no figures. Submitted to Proc. Sixth European Particle Accelerator Conference (EPAC'98), Stockholm, Sweden, 22-26 June, 199

Neutrino Physics at Muon Colliders

An overview is given of the neutrino physics potential of future muon storage rings that use muon collider technology to produce, accelerate and store large currents of muons.Comment: 8 pages. 1 figur

An experimental investigation of S-duct flow control using arrays of low-profile vortex generators

An experimental investigation was undertaken to measure the effect of various configurations of low-profile vortex generator arrays on the flow in a diffusing S-duct. Three parameters that characterize the vortex generator array were systematically varied to determine their effect: (1) the vortex generator height; (2) the streamwise location of the vortex generator array; and (3) the vortex generator spacing. Detailed measurements of total pressure at the duct exit, surface static pressure, and surface flow visualization were gathered for each vortex generator configuration. These results are reported here along with total pressure recovery and distortion coefficients determined from the experimental data. Each array of vortex generators tested improved total pressure recovery. The configuration employing the largest vortex generators was the most effective in reducing total pressure recovery. No configuration of vortex generators completely eliminated the flow separation that naturally occurs in the S-duct, however the extent of the separated flow region was reduced

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF THE U.S. HOG SLAUGHTER INDUSTRY

Conventional wisdom holds that a small and decreasing number of hog slaughter firms are using their "market power" to take advantage of U.S. hog producers. Existing studies have simply calculated industry concentration ratios and assumed/asserted that the performance of such a concentrated industry must be different from the performance of a perfectly competitive industry. These researchers have rejected without testing the hypothesis that: the observed performance of the U.S. hog slaughter industry is not different from the performance that would be generated by a perfectly competitive industry. This paper derives the theoretical relationships between hog and pork prices, and hence the farm-wholesale price spread, that would exist in a perfectly competitive slaughter hog market. These performance norms are then confronted with observed weekly price/quantity relationships over the 1991-2001 period to compare observed market performance with the ideal performance norms derived from the economic theory of a perfectly competitive market. Based on the market performance measures derived from economic theory of a perfectly competitive market, the hypothesis that the U.S. hog slaughter hog market is a perfectly competitive market cannot be rejected. There simply is not any evidence to support allegations of abuse of market power by meat packers.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries,

RECENT TRENDS AFFECTING FARM AND RURAL BUSINESS FINANCE

Agricultural Finance,