Milk Marketing Order Winners and Losers

Do milk marketing orders affect various demographic groups differently? To answer this question, we use supermarket scanner data to estimate an incomplete demand system for dairy products. Based on these estimates, we simulate substitution effects among dairy products and the welfare impacts of price changes resulting from changes in milk marketing orders for various consumer groups. While we find little difference in own- and cross-price substitution elasticities of demand, the welfare effects of price changes vary substantially across demographic groups, with some losing and others winning from this government program. Families with young children suffer from marketing orders, while wealthier childless couples benefit. Additionally, we find that households with lower incomes pay a larger percentage of their income due to marketing orders than those with higher income levels.Consumer/Household Economics,

Milk Marketing Orders: Who Wins and Who Loses?

Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Q13, Q18,

Rapid decrement in the effects of the Ponzo display dissociates action and perception.

It has been demonstrated that pictorial illusions have a smaller influence on grasping than they do on perceptual judgments. Yet to date this work has not considered the reduced influence of an illusion as it is measured repeatedly. Here we studied this decrement in the context of a Ponzo illusion to further characterize the dissociation between vision for perception and for action. Participants first manually estimated the lengths of single targets in a Ponzo display with their thumb and index finger, then actually grasped these targets in another series of trials, and then manually estimated the target lengths again in a final set of trials. The results showed that although the perceptual estimates and grasp apertures were equally sensitive to real differences in target length on the initial trials, only the perceptual estimates remained biased by the illusion over repeated measurements. In contrast, the illusion\u27s effect on the grasps decreased rapidly, vanishing entirely after only a few trials. Interestingly, a closer examination of the grasp data revealed that this initial effect was driven largely by undersizing the grip aperture for the display configuration in which the target was positioned between the diverging background lines (i.e., when the targets appeared to be shorter than they really were). This asymmetry between grasping apparently shorter and longer targets suggests that the sensorimotor system may initially treat the edges of the configuration as obstacles to be avoided. This finding highlights the sensorimotor system\u27s ability to rapidly update motor programs through error feedback, manifesting as an immunity to the effects of illusion displays even after only a few trials

Incidence and time course of everolimus-related adverse events in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer: insights from BOLERO-2.

BackgroundIn the BOLERO-2 trial, everolimus (EVE), an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin, demonstrated significant clinical benefit with an acceptable safety profile when administered with exemestane (EXE) in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR(+)) advanced breast cancer. We report on the incidence, time course, severity, and resolution of treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) as well as incidence of dose modifications during the extended follow-up of this study.Patients and methodsPatients were randomized (2:1) to receive EVE 10 mg/day or placebo (PBO), with open-label EXE 25 mg/day (n = 724). The primary end point was progression-free survival. Secondary end points included overall survival, objective response rate, and safety. Safety evaluations included recording of AEs, laboratory values, dose interruptions/adjustments, and study drug discontinuations.ResultsThe safety population comprised 720 patients (EVE + EXE, 482; PBO + EXE, 238). The median follow-up was 18 months. Class-effect toxicities, including stomatitis, pneumonitis, and hyperglycemia, were generally of mild or moderate severity and occurred relatively early after treatment initiation (except pneumonitis); incidence tapered off thereafter. EVE dose reduction and interruption (360 and 705 events, respectively) required for AE management were independent of patient age. The median duration of dose interruption was 7 days. Discontinuation of both study drugs because of AEs was higher with EVE + EXE (9%) versus PBO + EXE (3%).ConclusionsMost EVE-associated AEs occur soon after initiation of therapy, are typically of mild or moderate severity, and are generally manageable with dose reduction and interruption. Discontinuation due to toxicity was uncommon. Understanding the time course of class-effect AEs will help inform preventive and monitoring strategies as well as patient education.Trial registration numberNCT00863655

Stratified charge rotary engine combustion studies

Analytical and experimental studies of the combustion process in a stratified charge rotary engine (SCRE) continue to be the subject of active research in recent years. Specifically to meet the demand for more sophisticated products, a detailed understanding of the engine system of interest is warranted. With this in mind the objective of this work is to develop an understanding of the controlling factors that affect the SCRE combustion process so that an efficient power dense rotary engine can be designed. The influence of the induction-exhaust systems and the rotor geometry are believed to have a significant effect on combustion chamber flow characteristics. In this report, emphasis is centered on Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) measurements and on qualitative flow visualizations in the combustion chamber of the motored rotary engine assembly. This will provide a basic understanding of the flow process in the RCE and serve as a data base for verification of numerical simulations. Understanding fuel injection provisions is also important to the successful operation of the stratified charge rotary engine. Toward this end, flow visualizations depicting the development of high speed, high pressure fuel jets are described. Friction is an important consideration in an engine from the standpoint of lost work, durability and reliability. MSU Engine Research Laboratory efforts in accessing the frictional losses associated with the rotary engine are described. This includes work which describes losses in bearing, seal and auxillary components. Finally, a computer controlled mapping system under development is described. This system can be used to map shapes such as combustion chamber, intake manifolds or turbine blades accurately

Effects of oil and natural or synthetic vitamin E on ruminal and milk fatty acid profiles in cows receiving a high-starch diet

Among trans fatty acids, trans-10,cis-12 CLA has negative effects on cow milk fat production and can affect human health. In high-yielding dairy cows, a shift from the trans-11 to the trans-10 pathway of biohydrogenation (BH) can occur in the rumen of cows receiving high-concentrate diets, especially when the diet is supplemented with unsaturated fat sources. In some but not all experiments, vitamin E has been shown to control this shift. To ascertain the effects of vitamin E on this shift of BH pathway, 2 studies were conducted. The first study explored in vitro the effects of addition of natural (RRR-α-tocopherol acetate) and synthetic (dl-α-tocopherol acetate) vitamin E. Compared with control and synthetic vitamin E, the natural form resulted in a greater trans-10/trans-11 ratio; however, the effect was very low, suggesting that vitamin E was neither a limiting factor for rumen BH nor a modulator of the BH pathway. An in vivo study investigated the effect of natural vitamin E (RRR-α-tocopherol) on this shift and subsequent milk fat depression. Six rumenfistulated lactating Holstein cows were assigned to a 2 × 2 crossover design. Cows received 20-kg DM of a control diet based on corn silage with 22% of wheat, and after 2 wk of adaptation, the diet was supplemented with 600 g of sunflower oil for 2 more weeks. During the last week of this 4-wk experimental period, cows were divided into 2 groups: an unsupplemented control group and a group receiving 11 g of RRR-α-tocopherol acetate per day. A trans-10 shift of ruminal BH associated with milk fat depression due to oil supplementation of a high-wheat diet was observed, but vitamin E supplementation of dairy cows did not result in a reversal toward a trans-11 BH pathway, and did not restore milk fat content

Phospholipid class-specific brain enrichment in response to lysophosphatidylcholine docosahexaenoic acid infusion

This project was supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) [482597] and from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) [497215] to Dr. R.P. Bazinet and by a NSERC studentship to Dr. C.T. Chen.Peer reviewedPostprin

The spatial experiences of dwarfs in public spaces

Dwarfism is commonly defined as anyone 4ft 10″ (147.32 cm) or below and whose short stature involves a medical condition [Adelson, M. B. 2005. The Lives of Dwarfs, xv. NJ: Rutgers University Press]. Whilst it recognized that the built environment is unsuitable for dwarfs [see Kruse, R. 2002. “Social Spaces of Little People: The Experiences of the Jamisons.” Social and Cultural Geography 3 (2): 175–191, Kruse, R. 2010. “Placing Little People: Dwarfism and Geographies of Everyday Life.” In Towards Enabling Geographies, edited by V. Chouinard, E. Hall, and R. Wilton, 183–198. Surrey: Ashgate; Shakespeare, T., M. Wright, and S. Thompson. 2007. A Small Matter of Equality: Living with Restricted Growth. Newcastle: Newcastle University], this paper critically examines how spaces and facilities designed with other users in mind, including disabled people and children, can have unintended consequences for dwarfs. The data used in this paper are taken from semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation exercises conducted with 22 dwarfs living in the UK. Overall this paper shows the spatial experiences of dwarfs, which are a result of the unintended consequences of disabled child spaces and facilities, and suggests how Universal Design may be a more appropriate design concept

Radon backgrounds in the DEAP-1 liquid-argon-based Dark Matter detector

The DEAP-1 \SI{7}{kg} single phase liquid argon scintillation detector was operated underground at SNOLAB in order to test the techniques and measure the backgrounds inherent to single phase detection, in support of the \mbox{DEAP-3600} Dark Matter detector. Backgrounds in DEAP are controlled through material selection, construction techniques, pulse shape discrimination and event reconstruction. This report details the analysis of background events observed in three iterations of the DEAP-1 detector, and the measures taken to reduce them. The $^{222}$Rn decay rate in the liquid argon was measured to be between 16 and \SI{26}{\micro\becquerel\per\kilogram}. We found that the background spectrum near the region of interest for Dark Matter detection in the DEAP-1 detector can be described considering events from three sources: radon daughters decaying on the surface of the active volume, the expected rate of electromagnetic events misidentified as nuclear recoils due to inefficiencies in the pulse shape discrimination, and leakage of events from outside the fiducial volume due to imperfect position reconstruction. These backgrounds statistically account for all observed events, and they will be strongly reduced in the DEAP-3600 detector due to its higher light yield and simpler geometry