A micro-catchment water harvesting agrisystem in Avra Valley, west of Tucson, Arizona, was utilized to grow 17 varieties of drought tolerant corn (Zea mays). The primary objective of this study was to isolate and evaluate the grain yield performance of these cultivars. Additional measurements were also taken on transpiration rate (TR), leaf water potential (0), stress degree day (SDD), and crop water stress index (CWSI), during the period 24 October to 2 November, between two irrigations, in search of possible physiological mechanisms of drought adaptability and their impact on production. The system's performance in terms of economical crop growth is subject to further research. The analysis of grain yield indicates a significant varietal difference. Physiological parameters monitored also show trends of differences among cultivars. It was found that cultivars capable of maintaining a higher plant water content, by preserving their TR, Ψ1, CWSI, and SDD are not necessarily the better yielding cultivars. Possible justifications of this phenomena are discussed. It is suggested that a distinction has to be made between crop adaptability to drought and preservation of a high grain yield since under limited moisture conditions, one might be attained through the suppression of the other.

This study attempts to determine whether or not Portuguese wheat policies have resulted in a stabilization of the wheat price and/or the stabilization of income for wheat growers in the Alentejo region. It was found that these policies have contributed to a stabilization of price rather than a stabilization of income. It was also found that the income variability caused by yield variability was greater for the Alentejo farmers than that for the country as a whole. Weather uncertainties measured by rainfall were found to be a major source of that variability in both area and yield equations. Therefore, it was concluded that rainfall is significant in explaining variations in wheat supply and cannot be eliminated from the model specification. Finally, this study looked at a policy that would stabilize output returns to Alentejo farmers since high yield variability will continue to constrain farmers' willingness to invest in wheat production. An insurance program may be the policy to implement in this region since yield risks are the predominant source of income variability. However, the cost of financing an agricultural insurance scheme as well as the delineation of homogeneous areas are crucial determinants to the success of an all-risk insurance program.

Traditionally, the goal of channel routing algorithms is to route the nets with as few tracks as possible to minimize the chip area and achieve 100 percent connection. However, the manufacturing yield may not reach a satisfactory level if care is not taken to reduce the critical areas which are susceptible to defects. Our approach is to systematically eliminate critical areas by floating, burying, and bumping net segments as well as shifting vias. The yield optimizing routing (YOR) algorithm also minimizes the number of vias since vias in a chip increase the manufacturing complexity which again degrades the yield. The algorithm has been implemented and applied to benchmark routing layouts in the literature. The experimental results show that large reduction in the number of critical areas and significant improvement in yield are achieved, particularly for practical size channels such as the Deutsch's difficult problem.