Specialty Crops and the 2007 Farm Bill: The Potential Role of Farm Savings Accounts

This paper discusses the findings of a research project that examined the potential benefits of establishing farm savings accounts for specialty crop growers1. The primary goal of the project was to determine whether farm savings accounts would provide specialty crop growers with a useful tool for managing financial risk. The project examined how various farm savings account proposals ultimately impacted the benefits that specialty crop growers would receive from the accounts.Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries,

The Paradox of Risk Balancing: Do Risk-reducing Policies Lead to More Risk for Farmers?

The study presents stochastic optimal control/dynamic programming (SOC/DP) to derive the optimal debt level and consumption in farm models concerning two sources of uncertainty: the return on assets and interest rate. The SOC/DP analytic framework is used to analyze the impacts of risk-reducing farm policies on farm’s financial and risk adjustments. The results show the violations of the risk-balancing concept, which theorizes that risk-reducing farm policies may lead to increases in financial leverage, total risk, and the expected returns. Also, this study examines the extent to which the estimates of the optimal debt level are biased when interest rate risk is ignored.Stochastic Optimal Control/Dynamic Programming, Financial Leverage, Uncertainty, Risk Balancing, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty,

Consumer Willingness to Pay and Marketing Opportunities for "Quality Guaranteed Tree-Ripened Peaches" in New York State

This study identifies consumer characteristics associated with willingness to pay a higher price for quality guaranteed tree-ripened peaches, with a focus on evaluating factors important to consumers when making decisions to purchase tree-ripened peaches. Telephone interviews were conducted with consumers in New York State in summer, 2002. Seventy-eight percent of the 258 survey respondents reported that they were willing to pay a higher price. A logistical regression model of willingness to pay was estimated. The empirical results indicated that willingness to pay was positively affected by the existence of previous experiences in purchasing tree-ripened peaches and by consumer dissatisfaction with peaches consumed in the past. An analysis of consumer experiences and consumer dissatisfaction showed that consumers in the two identified segments had mutually exclusive characteristics that present marketing opportunities for high quality New York-grown peaches.Consumer/Household Economics,

Consumer Preferences and Marketing Opportunities for Premium “Tree-Ripened Peaches” in New York State

R.B. 2004-10Fruit growers in New York State are adding alternative fruit crops to their production acreage in an effort to diversify their apple orchards. Peach (Prunus persica L.) is a major crop used for that purpose because of the collaboration between growers and the Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station to develop new varieties that possess higher eating quality and more eye-appealing characteristics for the consumer market and because they are suitable for the growing environment in New York State. The goal of this study is to explore consumer interests in New York-grown premium tree-ripened peaches and develop strategic marketing recommendations on how the New York stone fruit industry can expand markets for these peaches. This research is divided into two parts: a qualitative study (focus group discussion) and a quantitative study (consumer phone survey). The purpose of the focus groups was to obtain in depth responses from consumers on their attitudes and purchase behaviors for fruit, peaches and New York-grown premium tree-ripened peaches. The consumer phone survey was designed to verify results from the focus group discussion among the general population and to determine consumers’ interests and willingness to pay a higher price for “quality-guaranteed premium treeripened peaches.” The focus groups and consumer phone surveys show that consumers, especially frequent fruit shoppers, are generally very interested in good quality peaches as well as “quality-guaranteed premium tree-ripened peaches”. Although it is usually recognized that good quality tree-ripened peaches are available at farm stands or farmers’ markets, they appear to be less available in the supermarkets where respondents in this study typically shop. This presents an opportunity for New York stone fruit growers to supply good and consistent quality fresh peaches through the supermarket channel. Peaches are prized for their juiciness, sweetness, and good flavor. However, consumers are frustrated by the difficulty they perceive in selecting peaches at the proper ripening stage to get the qualities they like. Quality and consistency of the product are key factors for consumer satisfaction, and a high level of satisfaction, in turn, increases consumer demand and repeat purchases for fresh peaches. If quality and consistency exist, consumers seem to be willing to pay higher prices and buy fewer peaches in order to get the product they like. Most consumers in this study recognized New York State as a region where peaches are grown and referred to these peaches as “local” or “homegrown.” Awareness of these shoppers about peaches grown in New York and their “local” nature clearly constitutes an advantage to build on when marketing New York-grown peaches. However, there are challenges when designing a marketing program to receive a premium price for high quality New York-grown tree-ripened peaches. Many consumers could not correctly identify tree-ripened peaches, and some expected a lower price for locally grown products. Moreover, some focus group participants viewed California peaches as larger and Pennsylvania peaches as more flavorful and predictable than New York peaches. iii Therefore, when promoting “quality-guaranteed New York-grown premium tree-ripened peaches” through the supermarkets channel, a good position statement, innovative packaging, and clear labeling at the point of purchase will be the major means of informing and influencing a potential buyer. It should emphasize high quality and be used as boldly and as creatively as possible to justify the higher price and stimulate sales for the “New York-grown qualityguaranteed premium tree-ripened peaches”. Moreover, given the narrow marketing window when fresh New York peaches are available and the excitement the arrival of the peach season appears to generate, both run-of-the-crop and premium varieties can benefit from intensive promotion of their arrival. Results from this study show that demographic factors generally do not affect consumer behavior in terms of purchasing peaches or tree-ripened peaches. Therefore, promotional programs targeting specific consumer groups are not necessary. Generating consumer satisfaction through good and consistent quality products is the key to successfully marketing “New York-grown quality-guaranteed premium tree-ripened peaches.

Temperature-based Collision Detection in Extreme Low Light Condition with Bio-inspired LGMD Neural Network

It is an enormous challenge for intelligent vehicles to avoid collision accidents at night because of the extremely poor light conditions. Thermal cameras can capture temperature map at night, even with no light sources and are ideal for collision detection in darkness. However, how to extract collision cues efficiently and effectively from the captured temperature map with limited computing resources is still a key issue to be solved. Recently, a bio-inspired neural network LGMD has been proposed for collision detection successfully, but for daytime and visible light. Whether it can be used for temperature-based collision detection or not remains unknown. In this study, we proposed an improved LGMD-based visual neural network for temperature-based collision detection at extreme light conditions. We show in this study that the insect inspired visual neural network can pick up the expanding temperature differences of approaching objects as long as the temperature difference against its background can be captured by a thermal sensor. Our results demonstrated that the proposed LGMD neural network can detect collisions swiftly based on the thermal modality in darkness; therefore, it can be a critical collision detection algorithm for autonomous vehicles driving at night to avoid fatal collisions with humans, animals, or other vehicles

Antcin-H Isolated from Antrodia cinnamomea

Antcin-H, a natural triterpene, is purified from a famous anticancer medicinal mushroom, Antrodia cinnamomea, in Taiwan. This study showed that antcin-H inhibited the growth of human renal carcinoma 786-0 cells; the IC50 value (for 48 h) was 170 μM. Besides, the migration and invasion of 786-0 cells were suppressed by antcin-H under noncytotoxic concentrations (<100 μM); these events were accompanied by inhibition of FAK and Src kinase activities, decrease of paxillin phosphorylation, impairment of lamellipodium formation, and upregulation of TIMPs and downregulation of MMPs, especially MMP-7 expression. Luciferase reporter assay showed that antcin-H repressed the MMP-7 promoter activity, in parallel to inhibiting c-Fos/AP-1 and C/EBP-β transactivation abilities. Moreover, antcin-H suppressed the activity of ERK1/2 and decreased the binding ability of C/EBP-β and c-Fos on the upstream/enhancer region of MMP-7 promoter. Overall, this study demonstrated that the anti-invasive effect of antcin-H in human renal carcinoma 786-0 cells might be at least in part by abrogating focal adhesion complex and lamellipodium formation through inhibiting the Src/FAK-paxillin signaling pathways and decreasing MMP-7 expression through suppressing the ERK1/2-AP-1/c-Fos and C/EBP-β signaling axis. Our findings provide the evidence that antcin-H may be an active component existing in A. cinnamomea with anticancer effect

Identification of a Novel Bcl-2 Inhibitor by Ligand-Based Screening and Investigation of Its Anti-cancer Effect on Human Breast Cancer Cells

Bcl-2 family protein is an important factor in regulating apoptosis and is associated with cancer. The anti-apoptotic proteins of Bcl-2 family, such as Bcl-2, are overexpression in numerous tumors, and contribute to cancer formation, development, and therapy resistance. Therefore, Bcl-2 is a promising target for drug development, and several Bcl-2 inhibitors are currently undergoing clinical trials. In this study, we carried out a QSAR-based virtual screening approach to develop potential Bcl-2 inhibitors from the SPECS database. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) binding assay was performed to examine the interaction between Bcl-2 protein and the screened inhibitors. After that, we measured the anti-tumor activities of the 8 candidate compounds, and found that compound M1 has significant cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cells. We further proved that compound M1 downregulated Bcl-2 expression and activated apoptosis by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction. In conclusion, we identified a novel Bcl-2 inhibitor by QSAR screening, which exerted significant cytotoxic activity in breast cancer cells through inducing mitochondria-mediated apoptosis

The role of gasotransmitters NO, H S, CO in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury and cardioprotection by preconditioning, postconditioning, and remote conditioning

Ischemic heart disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The development of cardioprotective therapeutic agents remains a partially unmet need and a challenge for both medicine and industry, with significant financial and social implications. Protection of the myocardium can be achieved by mechanical vascular occlusions such as preconditioning (PC) when brief episodes of ischemia/reperfusion are subjected prior to ischemia; postconditioning (PostC) when the brief episodes are subjected at the immediate onset of reperfusion, as well as remote conditioning (RC) when the brief episodes are subjected in another vascular territory. The elucidation of the signaling pathways which underlie the protective effects of PC, PostC and RC would be expected to reveal novel molecular targets for cardioprotection that could be manipulated by pharmacological agents to prevent reperfusion injury. Gasotransmitters including nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen sulphide (H2 S) and carbon monoxide (CO) are a growing family of regulatory molecules which impact on physiological and pathological functions. NO, H2 S and CO share several common properties; they are beneficial at low concentrations but hazardous in higher amounts, they relax smooth muscle cells, inhibit apoptosis, and exert anti-inflammatory effects. In the cardiovascular system, both NO, H2 S and CO induce vasorelaxation, and promote cardioprotection. In this review article, we summarize current knowledge on the role of the gasotransmitters NO, H2 S, and CO in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury and cardioprotection provided by conditioning strategies and highlight future perspectives in cardioprotection by NO, H2 S, CO, as well as their donor molecules