SUSTAINABLE AGRIBUSINESS: DEVELOPING LOCAL SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES IN THE REGIONAL AGRIBUSINESS SECTOR IN AUSTRALIA

The competitiveness of the agribusiness sector is critical to the social and economic sustainability of regional Australia, where agribusiness is directly responsible for one in five jobs (DNRE, 2002). Although it is recognised that environmental issues must be considered in order to 'sustain' the natural resources used to produce food, this paper focuses on the social and economic issues relating to sustainability (Cocklin et at., 2001). Social sustainability has only recently been upheld as an aim of agricultural and regional policy in Australia, however, it has typically been considered less important than economic and ecological sustainability (Cocklin et al., 2001). In rural Australia, social sustainability is typically reflected in the maintenance of social networks among residents of a rural area, the viability of the rural towns and the associated provision of infrastructure, facilities and services. The State Government of Victoria is actively encouraging the development and maintenance of sustainable networks of agribusiness-related entities in regional and rural Victoria. The Victoria Agribusiness Networks program is an example of how government is engaging agribusiness communities in regional Victoria.Agribusiness,

The Influence of Bureau Scores, Customized Scores and Judgmental Review on the Bank Underwriting Decision-Making Process

In recent years commercial banks have moved toward automated forms of underwriting. This study employs unique bank loan-level data from a scoring lender to determine whether automated underwriting exhibits a potential ‘‘disparate impact’’ across income strata. The findings indicate that strict application of this custom scoring model leads to higher denial rates for low- to moderate-income borrowers when compared with both a naý¨ve judgmental system and a bureau scoring approach. These results suggest that financial regulators should focus more resources on the evaluation and study of customized scoring models.

MAOA-L carriers are better at making optimal financial decisions under risk

Genes can affect behaviour towards risks through at least two distinct neurocomputational mechanisms: they may affect the value assigned to different risky options, or they may affect the way in which the brain adjudicates between options based on their value. We combined methods from neuroeconomics and behavioural genetics to investigate the impact that the genes encoding for monoamine oxidase-A (MAOA), the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) have on these two computations. Consistent with previous literature, we found that carriers of the MAOA-L polymorphism were more likely to take financial risks. Our computational choice model, rooted in established decision theory, showed that MAOA-L carriers exhibited such behaviour because they are able to make better financial decisions under risk, and not because they are more impulsive. In contrast, we found no behavioural or computational differences among the 5-HTT and DRD4 polymorphisms

Sustainability and organizational behavior: a micro-foundational perspective

Organizational behavior is a well-established academic field comprising a comprehensive and wide range of extant literature. In contrast, sustainability and micro-foundational literature constitute significant but nevertheless more relatively recent emergent bodies of work with each having developed particular predilections in the manner in which they are cast and discussed. There is scope, therefore, to bring to bear a range of organizational behavioral insights in conjunction with these areas thereby creating a fusion which surfaces the drivers and antecedents that operate and play out in the dynamic between these domains. The mechanism employed to do this is through the development of a special issue of papers, drawing on a range of methodological approaches and sectorial perspectives. This is important and has the aim of generating fresh insights and challenging conventional ways of viewing the behavioral dimensions of sustainability and especially through a micro-foundational lens. The analyses in the special issue underlines and demonstrates the value of engaging a range of national contexts, sectorial settings and historical and contemporaneous perspectives which shed novel light on the confluences of sustainability, organizational behavior and micro-foundations. The Special Issue also suggests future directions that subsequent research may take in these arenas

Hfq binding changes the structure of Escherichia coli small noncoding RNAs OxyS and RprA, which are involved in the riboregulation of rpoS

OxyS and RprA are two small noncoding RNAs (sRNAs) that modulate the expression of rpoS, encoding an alternative sigma factor that activates transcription of multiple Escherichia coli stress-response genes. While RprA activates rpoS for translation, OxyS down-regulates the transcript. Crucially, the RNA binding protein Hfq is required for both sRNAs to function, although the specific role played by Hfq remains unclear. We have investigated RprA and OxyS interactions with Hfq using biochemical and biophysical approaches. In particular, we have obtained the molecular envelopes of the Hfq–sRNA complexes using small-angle scattering methods, which reveal key molecular details. These data indicate that Hfq does not substantially change shape upon complex formation, whereas the sRNAs do. We link the impact of Hfq binding, and the sRNA structural changes induced, to transcript stability with respect to RNase E degradation. In light of these findings, we discuss the role of Hfq in the opposing regulatory functions played by RprA and OxyS in rpoS regulation

A Relationship Among Neighborhood Traits, Home Sales and Mortgage Fraud: The Atlanta Market Leading into the Mortgage Crash of 2008

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) categorizes mortgage fraud as either fraud for property or fraud for profit. Fraud for profit, which includes the vast majority of cases, may involve several parties to the transaction, including professional agents such as brokers, appraisers, builders, title examiners, escrow officers, attorney, and lenders. Fraud for profit schemes usually include several purchase transactions where homes are quickly sold, with lenders and subsequent purchasers suffering the losses. Reports of mortgage loan fraud grew exponentially in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, becoming one the fastest growing white-collar crimes in the United States. We examine simple correlates between mortgage fraud and the economic, credit and loan traits within the Atlanta zip codes. First, the findings for Atlanta suggest that higher home values and a lower rate of owner-occupancy lead to higher levels of mortgage fraud. Second, we find that mortgage fraud is not correlated with the proportion of non-bank lenders in a zip code. Third, we find that zip codes with more trying economic conditions, at least as measured by the unemployment rate in each zip code territory, are positively correlated with higher levels of fraud. Finally, surprisingly we find no correlation between the historic zip code level default rate and the prevalence of mortgage fraud

Cultural and Genetic Approaches to Manage Aflatoxin Contamination: Recent Insights Provide Opportunities for Improved Control.

Aspergillus flavus is a morphologically complex species that can produce the group of polyketide derived carcinogenic and mutagenic secondary metabolites, aflatoxins, as well as other secondary metabolites such as cyclopiazonic acid and aflatrem. Aflatoxin causes aflatoxicosis when aflatoxins are ingested through contaminated food and feed. In addition, aflatoxin contamination is a major problem, from both an economic and health aspect, in developing countries, especially Asia and Africa, where cereals and peanuts are important food crops. Earlier measures for control of A. flavus infection and consequent aflatoxin contamination centered on creating unfavorable environments for the pathogen and destroying contaminated products. While development of atoxigenic (nonaflatoxin producing) strains of A. flavus as viable commercial biocontrol agents has marked a unique advance for control of aflatoxin contamination, particularly in Africa, new insights into the biology and sexuality of A. flavus are now providing opportunities to design improved atoxigenic strains for sustainable biological control of aflatoxin. Further, progress in the use of molecular technologies such as incorporation of antifungal genes in the host and host-induced gene silencing, is providing knowledge that could be harnessed to develop germplasm that is resistant to infection by A. flavus and aflatoxin contamination. This review summarizes the substantial progress that has been made to understand the biology of A. flavus and mitigate aflatoxin contamination with emphasis on maize. Concepts developed to date can provide a basis for future research efforts on the sustainable management of aflatoxin contamination

Increased Coprophagic Activity of the Beetle, Tenebrio molitor, on Feces Containing Eggs of the Tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta

When provided with fecal pellets from uninfected (control) rats and rats infected with the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta, more fed and starved (72 h) female and starved male Tenebrio molitor fed on fecal pellets from infected- than from control rats; compared to fecal pellets from controls rats, fed males avoided the infective fecal pellets. Uninfective and infective fecal pellets had similar moisture contents, so increased coprophagic activity was not due to differences in moisture content. Fed and starved males and females were fed on fecal pellets containing tapeworm eggs and examined for cysticercoids. Significantly greater numbers of starved beetles than fed beetles were infected with cysticercoids, but the numbers of infected males and females within each treatment were not significantly different. On the other hand, males contained significantly greater numbers of cysticercoids than did females, and there was no significant difference between the numbers of cysticercoids recovered from fed and starved beetles. The data support the hypothesis that the feeding behavior of T. molitor on rat feces is altered by the presence of tapeworm eggs. The data demonstrated further that transmission dynamics are affected by a complex interaction of the beetle's sex and nutritional status