Estimates of the Welfare Impact of Intragenic and Transgenic GM Labeling Policies

Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Demand Curve Effects in Experimental Auctions: The Effect of Quantity Already Owned

Most studies utilizing experimental auction mechanisms to elicit consumers’ willingness to pay are designed to avoid potential substitution or demand-curve effects that may influence bid prices. However, previous research and auction designs have not considered the potential impact on bid prices of commodity inventories held by auction participants that were obtained through transactions outside of the auction. This omission may present a problem for interpreting and analyzing auction data. Using bids from a random nth-price auction of fresh vegetables conducted in a laboratory style setting, we test whether participants’ outside inventories affect bidding behavior. We find that bidders do in fact consider their inventories, resulting in lower bid prices by individuals with quantity already owned.Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis,

Letter from C. W. Colson to B. R. Colson

Letter from C. W. Colson to B. R. Colson. The one-page handwritten correspondence is dated 11 February 1912. There is a transcript of the letter in the item PDF

Improving the Nutrient Content of Food through Genetic Modification: Evidence from Experimental Auctions on Consumer Acceptance

This paper assesses consumers’ acceptance of nutritionally enhanced vegetables using a series of auction experiments administered to a random sample of adult consumers. Evidence suggests that consumers are willing to pay significantly more for fresh produce with labels signaling enhanced levels of antioxidants and vitamin C achieved by moving genes from within the species, as opposed to across species. However, this premium is significantly affected by diverse information treatments injected into the experiments.Bayesian analysis, experimental auction, food products, genetic modification, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Hepatitis E virus as a newly identified cause of acute viral hepatitis during human immunodeficiency virus infection

AbstractThe recent description of chronic hepatitis E in organ transplant recipients deserves increased awareness in the context of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection in immunocompromised individuals. Reported here is what is apparently the first PCR-documented case of acute hepatitis E in a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-l-infected patient. The CD4+ T-lymphocyte count was 246/mm3. The IgM anti-HEV antibody and HEV RNA tests results from serum were positive. Hepatitis was benign, and chronic HEV infection was ruled out. The HEV genotype was 3f. The patient did not report recent travel abroad. HEV should be tested in HIV-infected individuals presenting with acute hepatitis. HEV RNA detection is useful in diagnosing HEV infection and in monitoring recovery

BaCu3O4: High Temperature Magnetic Order in One-Dimensional S=1/2 Diamond-Chains

The magnetic properties of the alkaline earth oxocuprate BaCu3O4 are investigated. We show that the characteristic Cu3O4 layers of this material can be described with diamond chains of antiferromagnetically coupled Cu 1/2 spins with only a weak coupling between two adjacent chains. These Cu3O4 layers seem to represent a so far unique system of weakly coupled one-dimensional magnetic objects where the local AF ordering of the Cu2+ ions leads to an actual net magnetic moment of an isolated diamond chain. We demonstrate a magnetic transition at a high N\'eel temperature T_{N}=336 K

Flow-through quantification of microplastics using impedance spectroscopy

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Colson, B. C., & Michel, A. P. M. Flow-through quantification of microplastics using impedance spectroscopy. ACS Sensors, 6(1), (2021): 238–244, doi:10.1021/acssensors.0c02223.Understanding the sources, impacts, and fate of microplastics in the environment is critical for assessing the potential risks of these anthropogenic particles. However, our ability to quantify and identify microplastics in aquatic ecosystems is limited by the lack of rapid techniques that do not require visual sorting or preprocessing. Here, we demonstrate the use of impedance spectroscopy for high-throughput flow-through microplastic quantification, with the goal of rapid measurement of microplastic concentration and size. Impedance spectroscopy characterizes the electrical properties of individual particles directly in the flow of water, allowing for simultaneous sizing and material identification. To demonstrate the technique, spike and recovery experiments were conducted in tap water with 212–1000 μm polyethylene beads in six size ranges and a variety of similarly sized biological materials. Microplastics were reliably detected, sized, and differentiated from biological materials via their electrical properties at an average flow rate of 103 ± 8 mL/min. The recovery rate was ≥90% for microplastics in the 300–1000 μm size range, and the false positive rate for the misidentification of the biological material as plastic was 1%. Impedance spectroscopy allowed for the identification of microplastics directly in water without visual sorting or filtration, demonstrating its use for flow-through sensing.The authors thank the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation and the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI DBS13) for their funding support

Infrared phonon dynamics of multiferroic BiFeO3 single crystal

We discuss the first infrared reflectivity measurement on a BiFeO3 single crystal between 5 K and room temperature. The 9 predicted ab-plane E phonon modes are fully and unambiguously determined. The frequencies of the 4 A1 c-axis phonons are found. These results settle issues between theory and data on ceramics. Our findings show that the softening of the lowest frequency E mode is responsible for the temperature dependence of the dielectric constant, indicating that the ferroelectric transition in BiFeO3 is soft-mode driven.Comment: 5 pages (figures included