Instability in Grain Demand and Price: What Role for Grain Agreements?

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Edible films based on aqueous emulsions of low-methoxyl pectin with recovered and purified sunflower waxes

BACKGROUND: Edible films were obtained from aqueous emulsions prepared with low-methoxyl pectin at different concentrations (10, 20 and 30 g kg−1) and two sunflower wax samples recovered from two waste samples of filter cakes produced in the winterization process of sunflower oil. The two sunflower waxes samples recovered (from the normal hybrid, NSFW, and from the high-oleic hybrid, HOSFW) were added in three proportions (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 g g-1 of pectin). Films were evaluated according to their structure, water resistance, water vapor permeability, mechanical properties and thermal behavior. RESULTS: In general, good dispersion of the lipid material was observed in the cross-sections of the film. Increase in the water resistance (lower swelling index and water adsorption) was associated with a greater pectin content crosslinked with Ca2+ and the hydrophobic nature of waxes. The reduction in water vapor transfer rates was influenced by the effect of the wax addition, their fatty acid composition and their good distribution on the film. More resistant, rigid and less flexible films were obtained with lower pectin content, finding an inverse relationship between tensile strength and elongation percentage values. CONCLUSION: These results evidence a promising alternative in the development of innovative strategies to valorize sunflower waxes derived from waste material.Fil: Chalapud Narvaez, Mayra Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Baumler, Erica Raquel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Carelli Albarracin, Amalia Antonia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería Química; Argentin

Forming norms: informing diagnosis and management in sports medicine

Clinicians aim to identify abnormalities, and distinguish harmful from harmless abnormalities. In sports medicine, measures of physical function such as strength, balance and joint flexibility are used as diagnostic tools to identify causes of pain and disability and monitor progression in response to an intervention. Comparing results from clinical measures against ‘normal’ values guides decision-making regarding health outcomes. Understanding ‘normal’ is therefore central to appropriate management of disease and disability. However, ‘normal’ is difficult to clarify and definitions are dependent on context. ‘Normal’ in the clinical setting is best understood as an appropriate state of physical function. Particularly as disease, pain and sickness are expected occurrences of being human, understanding ‘normal’ at each stage of the lifespan is essential to avoid the medicalisation of usual life processes. Clinicians use physical measures to assess physical function and identify disability. Accurate diagnosis hinges on access to ‘normal’ reference values for such measures. However our knowledge of ‘normal’ for many clinical measures in sports medicine is limited. Improved knowledge of normal physical function across the lifespan will assist greatly in the diagnosis and management of pain, disease and disability

The Effect of Disfluency on the Framing Effect

This study investigated the framing effect and examined whether disfluency reduces susceptibility to framing. Prior work has shown that when information is presented in a fluent manner individuals process the content quickly, however when it is presented in a disfluent hard-to-read manner more analytical processing systems are activated. The current study examined the impact of fluency and dual process theory on framing susceptibility. Participants completed three classic decision problems (Asian Disease Problem, School Dropout Prevention Problem, and Fatal Disease Problem) with answers written in a risk seeking or risk averse manner and the font manipulated. The framing effect was again observed for these decision problems, but importantly was reduced in the disfluent conditions, as well as for participants more likely to use System 2 processes. These results suggest that simple font manipulations can have a powerful effect on decision making

Ferromagnetic resonance force microscopy on a thin permalloy film

Ferromagnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (FMRFM) offers a means of performing local ferromagnetic resonance. We have studied the evolution of the FMRFM force spectra in a continuous 50 nm thick permalloy film as a function of probe-film distance and performed numerical simulations of the intensity of the FMRFM probe-film interaction force, accounting for the presence of the localized strongly nonuniform magnetic field of the FMRFM probe magnet. Excellent agreement between the experimental data and the simulation results provides insight into the mechanism of FMR mode excitation in an FMRFM experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

The Behaviour of Swine

The pig was a forest-dwelling animal from the beginning of its history. In some parts of the world it has been domesticated for at least 7000 years. The European breeds of domestic swine were derived from the local wild pig, Sus scrofa. Herds ranged in pastures and forests and kept indoors only for fattening. The breeds in the Far East were derived from another wild pig, Sus vittatus, a smaller animal with shorter legs and a higher reproductive ability (Mohr 1960; Zeuner 1963). The two types interbred readily. The modem breeds of pig evolved from different crossings between the two original types. They form a rich diversity of genetic material and more than 200 breeds have been catalogued. Certain wild types of pig-like animals, such as the African bush pig (Pontamochoerus larvatus) and the wart hog (Phacochoerus aethiopecus), have never been domesticated. The basis of the social structure in feral swine is the matriarchal herd: one or several females with their offspring. The males are not permanently associated to such herds, often ranging solitary or in \u27bachelor\u27 groups (Fig. 52). Under domestication the pig has been modified from a pugnacious, free-ranging, foraging beast to a more docile animal which is handled readily in large groups under conditions of confined rearing. The behavioural plasticity of swine is emphasized by the rapidity with which wild pigs have adapted to rearing in restricted conditions. Although most of our knowledge of the behaviour of swine has been gained from data collected incidentally to research on nutrition, breeding, physiology and management, a number of experimental studies have recently appeared in learning, adaptation, social, sexual and maternal behaviours, making the pig the best known species among domestic mammals, from the point of view of behaviour