PROFILES OF TARIFFS IN GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL MARKETS

High protection for agricultural commodities in the form of tariffs continues to be the major factor restricting world trade. The large differences in average tariffs across countries make it possible for farmers in one country to benefit from tariff protection while farmers in other countries lose income because of lower prices resulting from those tariffs. This report provides the first comprehensive analysis of agricultural tariffs and tariff-rate quotas (limits on imported goods) across a large number of countries and commodities and finds that high average tariffs create barriers to markets for U.S. and other farmers.market access, megatariffs, tariff profiles, over-quota tariffs, in-quota tariffs, tariff-rate quotas, World Trade Organization, International Relations/Trade,

Medical Command and Control in Sea-Based Operations

During World War II it took the Navy and Marine Corps years to confirm and refine their prewar doctrine for amphibious attack. The labor began with the first U.S. landings at Guadalcanal in August 1942; the resulting doc- trine, organization, tactics, and techniques were subsequently used by the Army in Europe. Early operations in both theaters highlighted the enormous difficul- ties associated with essential medical elements, and it was not until late 1944, perhaps 1945, that these problems were adequately solved

Community Cooking Course to Combat Nutritional Knowledge Deficit

More than two-thirds of American adults and almost one-third of American children are overweight or obese. Not only are the statistics alarming, the cost of obesity is staggering. Obesity robs an individual of their quality of life and costs the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $147 billion a year in obesity-related illness (Finkelstein, Trogdon, Cohen, & Dietz, 2009). The need to find solutions to improve the health of Americans is clear and communities are called to respond. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2018) recommends partnership with local agencies to promote obesity prevention initiatives and create a healthier food environment for all. Evidence suggests that interventions, such as cooking classes, can be made to improve the overall health of a community and reduce the obesity epidemic (Ickes, Mcmullen, Haider, & Sharma, 2014). The PICOT question asks, in low-income families (P), how does participating in a community cooking course (I) compared to not participating in a cooking course (C) affect nutritional knowledge (O) after completion of the cooking course (T)? In partnership with Hill Country Family Services (HCFS) of Kendall County, Texas, this capstone project set out to provide family centered cooking classes featuring accessible, low cost, and nutritious foods with the aim to improve nutritional knowledge and boost self-efficacy to a vulnerable population. Cooking classes were designed around the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Choose My Plate guidelines and the national Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters for Families campaign (USDA, n.d.; Share Our Strength, 2019). Classes geared toward children accompanied by an adult were planned to feature fun activities and hands on cooking experiences. Unfortunately, the project was frozen mid-implementation due to a global pandemic. This paper will discuss the project thus far and outline plans for future completion and evaluation

Explosive Percolation in the Human Protein Homology Network

We study the explosive character of the percolation transition in a real-world network. We show that the emergence of a spanning cluster in the Human Protein Homology Network (H-PHN) exhibits similar features to an Achlioptas-type process and is markedly different from regular random percolation. The underlying mechanism of this transition can be described by slow-growing clusters that remain isolated until the later stages of the process, when the addition of a small number of links leads to the rapid interconnection of these modules into a giant cluster. Our results indicate that the evolutionary-based process that shapes the topology of the H-PHN through duplication-divergence events may occur in sudden steps, similarly to what is seen in first-order phase transitions.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

(Methylthio)phenol semiochemicals are exploited by deceptive orchids as sexual attractants for Campylothynnus thynnine wasps

Until recently, (methylthio)phenols as natural products had only been reported from bacteria. Now, four representatives of this class of sulfurous aromatic compounds have been discovered as semiochemicals in the orchid Caladenia crebra, which secures pollination by sexual deception. In this case, field bioassays confirmed that a 10:1 blend of 2-(methylthio)benzene-1,4-diol (1) and 4-hydroxy-3-(methylthio)benzaldehyde (2) sexually attracts the male thynnine wasp Campylothynnus flavopictus (Tiphiidae:Thynnineae), the exclusive pollinator of C. crebra. Here we show with field bioassays that another undescribed species of Campylothynnus (sp. A) is strongly sexually attracted to a 1:1 blend of compounds 1 and 2, which elicits very high attempted copulation rates (88%). We also confirm that this Campylothynnus species is a pollinator of Caladenia attingens subsp. attingens. Chemical analysis of the flowers of this orchid revealed two (methylthio)phenols, compound 2 and 2-(methylthio)phenol (3), as candidate semiochemicals involved in pollinator attraction. Thus, (methylthio)phenols are likely to be more widely used than presently known. The confirmation of this Campylothynnus as a pollinator of C. attingens subsp. attingens at our study sites was unexpected, since elsewhere this orchid is pollinated by a different thynnine wasp (Thynnoides sp). In general, sexually deceptive Caladenia only use a single species of pollinator, and as such, this unusual case may offer a tractable study system for understanding the chemical basis of pollinator switching in sexually deceptive orchids.BB and RDP: Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DE 160101313 and DE150101720), RDP: the Australian Orchid Foundation and the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment, RP and GRF: ARC grant (LP130100162) and RP: ARC grant (DP150102762)