Supply Chain Analysis of Olive Oil in Germany

Olive oil is a typical product of the Mediterranean basin, where almost all of the world production takes place. Due to campaigns for a healthier way of living, consumption of olive oil has also increased in non Mediterranean countries in recent years. As a result of the expanded demand the different participants in the supply chain of olive oil strengthen their efforts to obtain a higher market share in these non-traditional markets. Germany with 82.5 million inhabitants is of special interest for olive oil producing countries as it serves as an attractive export destination. Although during the period 1997/98 Germany imported only about 2.6 % of the world?s imports of olive oil and consumed about 0.9 % of the world consumption, it is considered to be a very dynamic market (Ward et al., 2002). Olive oil becomes more and more popular in Germany not only through the ?for a healthier life? campaigns but also through immigrants coming from the Mediterranean basin. Another reason for the growing popularity of olive oil is the increasing convergence of the consumption habits of the European people as a consequence of the expanded tourism to southern countries. The Germans are integrating the Mediterranean diet into their own habits and thus changing gradually their way of cooking in using more and more olive oil in their dishes. Against this background this report aims to analyse the supply chain of olive oil in Germany. For this purpose the report is organised in five chapters. Following the introduction, the second chapter deals with the demand and the third one with the supply of olive oil in Germany. Quality and labelling issues related with the consumption of olive oil are discussed in the fourth chapter. In the fifth chapter the institutions and organisations in Germany occupied with olive oil are briefly presented. After the conclusions follows the annex including detailed tables. --

Supply Chain Analysis of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables in Germany

With a population of 82.5 million, the German market is the largest in the EU and therefore of special interest for the trade partners. Despite an unsatisfying economic development in the last years (lowest GDP growth in the EU and rising unemployment, see Table 9 in the annex) Germany is still a very attractive market with well funded consumers. Although agriculture has a small and declining contribution to the country?s gross domestic product, in the wider definition of the agribusiness, it is still one of the most important sectors with regard to turnover and employment. Taking consumers? expenditure for food as a proxy for the total turnover of the agribusiness yields a figure of 240 billion – in 2003, nearly as much as the turnover of the car industry in Germany. In total, 4.5 million people are employed in the agribusiness, which is 11.6% of Germany?s total labour force. Among agricultural markets, the market of fruit and vegetables is of special interest for the trade with Mediterranean countries and also of special importance for the food industry and the food consumption. In 2003 consumers? expenditure for fresh fruit and vegetables were more than 10 billion ?. The processing industry of fruit and vegetables generated another 6.5 billion – turnover, demonstrating the importance of fruit and vegetables in Germany. Bearing in mind that the self sufficiency ratios for fruit and vegetables in Germany are low (13% respectively 50%), the extent of market opportunities for the Mediterranean countries become obvious. Against this background it is the objective of this report to analyse the supply chain of fresh fruit and vegetables in Germany. In the second chapter the current market situation is briefly presented with regard to production, consumption and trade in Germany. Other aspects covered in this chapter are the demographic structure in Germany, important consumer trends and food quality issues. The third chapter is devoted in depth to the analysis of the supply chains for both fruit and vegetables. In this chapter the different actors and market channels are described with regard to their task and importance in the supply chain. In the fourth chapter the overall institutional structure is analysed. After the conclusions in the fifth chapter extensive tables and figures can be found in the annex. --

Supply Chain Analysis of Olive Oil in Germany

Olive oil is a typical product of the Mediterranean basin, where almost all of the world production takes place. Due to campaigns for a healthier way of living, consumption of olive oil has also increased in non Mediterranean countries in recent years. As a result of the expanded demand the different participants in the supply chain of olive oil strengthen their efforts to obtain a higher market share in these non-traditional markets. Germany with 82.5 million inhabitants is of special interest for olive oil producing countries as it serves as an attractive export destination. Although during the period 1997/98 Germany imported only about 2.6 % of the world?s imports of olive oil and consumed about 0.9 % of the world consumption, it is considered to be a very dynamic market (Ward et al., 2002). Olive oil becomes more and more popular in Germany not only through the ?for a healthier life? campaigns but also through immigrants coming from the Mediterranean basin. Another reason for the growing popularity of olive oil is the increasing convergence of the consumption habits of the European people as a consequence of the expanded tourism to southern countries. The Germans are integrating the Mediterranean diet into their own habits and thus changing gradually their way of cooking in using more and more olive oil in their dishes. Against this background this report aims to analyse the supply chain of olive oil in Germany. For this purpose the report is organised in five chapters. Following the introduction, the second chapter deals with the demand and the third one with the supply of olive oil in Germany. Quality and labelling issues related with the consumption of olive oil are discussed in the fourth chapter. In the fifth chapter the institutions and organisations in Germany occupied with olive oil are briefly presented. After the conclusions follows the annex including detailed tables

Supply Chain Analysis of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables in Germany

With a population of 82.5 million, the German market is the largest in the EU and therefore of special interest for the trade partners. Despite an unsatisfying economic development in the last years (lowest GDP growth in the EU and rising unemployment, see Table 9 in the annex) Germany is still a very attractive market with well funded consumers. Although agriculture has a small and declining contribution to the country's gross domestic product, in the wider definition of the agribusiness, it is still one of the most important sectors with regard to turnover and employment. Taking consumers' expenditure for food as a proxy for the total turnover of the agribusiness yields a figure of 240 billion - in 2003, nearly as much as the turnover of the car industry in Germany. In total, 4.5 million people are employed in the agribusiness, which is 11.6% of Germany's total labour force. Among agricultural markets, the market of fruit and vegetables is of special interest for the trade with Mediterranean countries and also of special importance for the food industry and the food consumption. In 2003 consumers' expenditure for fresh fruit and vegetables were more than 10 billion €. The processing industry of fruit and vegetables generated another 6.5 billion - turnover, demonstrating the importance of fruit and vegetables in Germany. Bearing in mind that the self sufficiency ratios for fruit and vegetables in Germany are low (13% respectively 50%), the extent of market opportunities for the Mediterranean countries become obvious. Against this background it is the objective of this report to analyse the supply chain of fresh fruit and vegetables in Germany. In the second chapter the current market situation is briefly presented with regard to production, consumption and trade in Germany. Other aspects covered in this chapter are the demographic structure in Germany, important consumer trends and food quality issues. The third chapter is devoted in depth to the analysis of the supply chains for both fruit and vegetables. In this chapter the different actors and market channels are described with regard to their task and importance in the supply chain. In the fourth chapter the overall institutional structure is analysed. After the conclusions in the fifth chapter extensive tables and figures can be found in the annex

Allometry and Ecology of the Bilaterian Gut Microbiome.

Classical ecology provides principles for construction and function of biological communities, but to what extent these apply to the animal-associated microbiota is just beginning to be assessed. Here, we investigated the influence of several well-known ecological principles on animal-associated microbiota by characterizing gut microbial specimens from bilaterally symmetrical animals (Bilateria) ranging from flies to whales. A rigorously vetted sample set containing 265 specimens from 64 species was assembled. Bacterial lineages were characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Previously published samples were also compared, allowing analysis of over 1,098 samples in total. A restricted number of bacterial phyla was found to account for the great majority of gut colonists. Gut microbial composition was associated with host phylogeny and diet. We identified numerous gut bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences that diverged deeply from previously studied taxa, identifying opportunities to discover new bacterial types. The number of bacterial lineages per gut sample was positively associated with animal mass, paralleling known species-area relationships from island biogeography and implicating body size as a determinant of community stability and niche complexity. Samples from larger animals harbored greater numbers of anaerobic communities, specifying a mechanism for generating more-complex microbial environments. Predictions for species/abundance relationships from models of neutral colonization did not match the data set, pointing to alternative mechanisms such as selection of specific colonists by environmental niche. Taken together, the data suggest that niche complexity increases with gut size and that niche selection forces dominate gut community construction.IMPORTANCEThe intestinal microbiome of animals is essential for health, contributing to digestion of foods, proper immune development, inhibition of pathogen colonization, and catabolism of xenobiotic compounds. How these communities assemble and persist is just beginning to be investigated. Here we interrogated a set of gut samples from a wide range of animals to investigate the roles of selection and random processes in microbial community construction. We show that the numbers of bacterial species increased with the weight of host organisms, paralleling findings from studies of island biogeography. Communities in larger organisms tended to be more anaerobic, suggesting one mechanism for niche diversification. Nonselective processes enable specific predictions for community structure, but our samples did not match the predictions of the neutral model. Thus, these findings highlight the importance of niche selection in community construction and suggest mechanisms of niche diversification

Analysis of Argonaute Complex Bound mRNAs in DU145 Prostate Carcinoma Cells Reveals New miRNA Target Genes

Posttranscriptional gene regulation by microRNAs (miRNAs) contributes to the induction and maintenance of prostate carcinoma (PCa). To identify mRNAs enriched or removed from Ago2-containing RISC complexes, these complexes were immunoprecipitated from normal prostate fibroblasts (PNFs) and the PCa line DU145 and the bound mRNAs were quantified by microarray. The analysis of Ago complexes derived from PNFs or DU145 confirmed the enrichment or depletion of a variety of mRNAs already known from the literature to be deregulated. Novel potential targets were analyzed by luciferase assays with miRNAs known to be deregulated in PCa. We demonstrate that the mRNAs of the death effector domain-containing protein (DEDD), the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, member 10b protein (TNFRSF10B), the tumor protein p53 inducible nuclear protein 1 (TP53INP1), and the secreted protein, acidic, cysteine-rich (SPARC; osteonectin) are regulated by miRNAs miR-148a, miR-20a, miR-24, and miR-29a/b, respectively. Therefore, these miRNAs represent potential targets for therapy. Surprisingly, overexpression of miR-24 induced focus formation and proliferation of DU145 cells, while miR-29b reduced proliferation. The study confirms genes deregulated in PCa by virtue of their presence/absence in the Ago2-complex. In conjunction with the already published miRNA profiles of PCa, the data can be used to identify miRNA-regulated mRNAs

Inclusive jet cross sections and dijet correlations in D∗±D^{*\pm} photoproduction at HERA

Inclusive jet cross sections in photoproduction for events containing a $D^*$ meson have been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of $78.6 {\rm pb}^{-1}$. The events were required to have a virtuality of the incoming photon, $Q^2$, of less than 1 GeV$^2$, and a photon-proton centre-of-mass energy in the range $130<W_{\gamma p}<280 {\rm GeV}$. The measurements are compared with next-to-leading-order (NLO) QCD calculations. Good agreement is found with the NLO calculations over most of the measured kinematic region. Requiring a second jet in the event allowed a more detailed comparison with QCD calculations. The measured dijet cross sections are also compared to Monte Carlo (MC) models which incorporate leading-order matrix elements followed by parton showers and hadronisation. The NLO QCD predictions are in general agreement with the data although differences have been isolated to regions where contributions from higher orders are expected to be significant. The MC models give a better description than the NLO predictions of the shape of the measured cross sections.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures, charm jets ZEU

Dissociation of virtual photons in events with a leading proton at HERA

The ZEUS detector has been used to study dissociation of virtual photons in events with a leading proton, gamma^* p -> X p, in e^+p collisions at HERA. The data cover photon virtualities in two ranges, 0.03<Q^2<0.60 GeV^2 and 2<Q^2<100 GeV^2, with M_X>1.5 GeV, where M_X is the mass of the hadronic final state, X. Events were required to have a leading proton, detected in the ZEUS leading proton spectrometer, carrying at least 90% of the incoming proton energy. The cross section is presented as a function of t, the squared four-momentum transfer at the proton vertex, Phi, the azimuthal angle between the positron scattering plane and the proton scattering plane, and Q^2. The data are presented in terms of the diffractive structure function, F_2^D(3). A next-to-leading-order QCD fit to the higher-Q^2 data set and to previously published diffractive charm production data is presented

Chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing

The study of the archaeological remains of fossil hominins must rely on reconstructions to elucidate the behaviour that may have resulted in particular stone tools and their accumulation. Comparatively, stone tool use among living primates has illuminated behaviours that are also amenable to archaeological examination, permitting direct observations of the behaviour leading to artefacts and their assemblages to be incorporated. Here, we describe newly discovered stone tool-use behaviour and stone accumulation sites in wild chimpanzees reminiscent of human cairns. In addition to data from 17 mid- to long-term chimpanzee research sites, we sampled a further 34 Pan troglodytes communities. We found four populations in West Africa where chimpanzees habitually bang and throw rocks against trees, or toss them into tree cavities, resulting in conspicuous stone accumulations at these sites. This represents the first record of repeated observations of individual chimpanzees exhibiting stone tool use for a purpose other than extractive foraging at what appear to be targeted trees. The ritualized behavioural display and collection of artefacts at particular locations observed in chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing may have implications for the inferences that can be drawn from archaeological stone assemblages and the origins of ritual sites

Genome-wide association study of germline variants and breast cancer-specific mortality.

BackgroundWe examined the associations between germline variants and breast cancer mortality using a large meta-analysis of women of European ancestry.MethodsMeta-analyses included summary estimates based on Cox models of twelve datasets using ~10.4 million variants for 96,661 women with breast cancer and 7697 events (breast cancer-specific deaths). Oestrogen receptor (ER)-specific analyses were based on 64,171 ER-positive (4116) and 16,172 ER-negative (2125) patients. We evaluated the probability of a signal to be a true positive using the Bayesian false discovery probability (BFDP).ResultsWe did not find any variant associated with breast cancer-specific mortality at P &lt; 5 × 10-8. For ER-positive disease, the most significantly associated variant was chr7:rs4717568 (BFDP = 7%, P = 1.28 × 10-7, hazard ratio [HR] = 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.84-0.92); the closest gene is AUTS2. For ER-negative disease, the most significant variant was chr7:rs67918676 (BFDP = 11%, P = 1.38 × 10-7, HR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.16-1.39); located within a long intergenic non-coding RNA gene (AC004009.3), close to the HOXA gene cluster.ConclusionsWe uncovered germline variants on chromosome 7 at BFDP &lt; 15% close to genes for which there is biological evidence related to breast cancer outcome. However, the paucity of variants associated with mortality at genome-wide significance underpins the challenge in providing genetic-based individualised prognostic information for breast cancer patients