ON THE EQUIVALENCE OF IMPORT TARIFF AND QUOTA: THE CASE OF RICE IMPORT IN TAIWAN

This paper extends the existing theory on the equivalence of import tariff and quota. If the equivalence is defined on the domestic price level (weak equivalence), then either the zero conjectural variation for domestic country or a perfectly competitive market will be sufficient to support this equivalence. If the equivalence is defined both on the same domestic price level as well as tariff rate (strong equivalence), then the conditions are that either domestic country acts as a Cournot competitor and foreign country is a price taker, or both domestic and foreign country are price takers. An empirical spatial-equilibrium trade model is constructed to simulate the impacts of import tariff and quota. Using Taiwan¡¦s rice import as an example, the empirical results show that if Taiwan switches from the quota system to tariff system, the domestic rice price as well as total social welfare can be increased given the same import volume.International Relations/Trade,

Is Contract Farming More Profitable and Efficient Than Non-Contract Farming-A Survey Study of Rice Farms In Taiwan

Trade liberalization and globalization has modernized the food retail sector in Taiwan, affecting consumers, producers and trade patterns. These changes have placed significant pressures on farmers and processors including more stringent quality control and product varieties. The government has launched a rice production-marketing contract program in 2005 to assist rice farmers and the agro-business sector to work together as partners. The minimum scale for each contract is 50 hectares of adjacent rice paddies with 50 participants including rice farmers, seedling providers, millers and marketing agents. In order to evaluate the outcome of this program, a survey is conducted in the summer of 2005 after the first (spring) crop is harvested. Information of price and value of output and major variable and fixed inputs are collected along with characteristics of the farmers and farms. The survey results show that the average revenue of a contract farm is about 11 percent higher than an average non-contract farm. The per hectare cost of production in a contract farm is about 13 percent lower and as a result the average profit margin under contract is more than 50 percent above those without contract. A swtiching regression profit frontier model is adopted to further investigate their efficiency performance. The result indicates that an average contract farms is 20 percent more efficient than an average non-contract farm in a comparable operating environment. The result also suggests that although contract farming has potential to improve the profit of smallholders, it is not a sufficient condition for such improvement.Land Economics/Use,

Characterization of Two Naturally Occurring Glycoprotein-Pigment Complexes from Cottonseed Pigment Glands

Chemistr

Search for quantum dimer phases and transitions in a frustrated spin ladder

A two-leg spin-1/2 ladder with diagonal interactions is investigated numerically. We focus our attention on the possibility of columnar dimer phase, which was recently predicted based on a reformulated bosonization theory. By using density matrix renormalization group technique and exact diagonalization method, we calculate columnar dimer order parameter, spin correlation on a rung, string order parameters, and scaled excitation gaps. Carefully using various finite-size scaling techniques, our results show no support for the existence of columnar dimer phase in the spin ladder under consideration.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. To be published in Phys. Rev.

Solar Heating in Taiwan

AbstractSolar water heaters (SWHs) can provide hot water at temperatures ranging from 40 to 80oC for domestic or industrial use. With the subsidy programs (1986-1991 and 2000-present) offered by the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs and some municipal governments, the accumulated area of solar collectors installed at the end of 2012 reached 2.25 million square meters. The well-orchestrated and concerted efforts put forward by the government of Taiwan, particularly with the Renewable Energy Development Bill promulgated in 2010, have played a significant role in the increased dissemination of SWHs. Further, the long-duration national subsidy programs might constitute one of the main driving forces for local market expansion. The mass media should be more aggressively utilized to enhance public awareness and promote utilization of SWHs. Organizations also need to consider the interests of society by being accountable for their businesses practices and by being responsible for the impact of their activities on the environment. This paper reports the current status and perspectives of SWHs in Taiwan, according to the desk and field surveys

Changes of phenolic compounds in LebZIP2-overexpressing transgenic plants

484-491The bZIP gene is a transcription factor that plays various roles in relation to plant stress and hormone signaling. This gene is also involved in plant environmental stress and herbicide tolerance. We generated Nicotiana benthamiana transgenic plants with LebZIP2-encoding gene isolated from tomatoes using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic seeds harvested from these T0 transgenic plants were grown and examined for gene transfer and changes in phenolic compounds in the T1 generation. RT-PCR analysis using a primer specific to the LebZIP gene confirmed that the gene was transferred to the T1 generation. We analyzed the increase and decrease tendency for 30 phenolic compounds using the T1 generation-transgenic plants and investigated the mechanism between the specifically increased compound and LebZIP2 gene. Gallic acid, homogentisic acid, protocatechuic acid, myricetin, t-cinnamic acid, and b-resorcyclic acid were identified as the phenolic compounds that increased in T1 transgenic plants overexpressing the LebZIP gene. Among these, homogentisic acid at 246.75-1055.19 µg/g, was increased by 2-5 fold in the T1 transgenic plants compared to the control. Protocatechuic acid was found at 1640.54-2456.00 µg/g and was increased by 2-4 fold in T1 transgenic plants. t-Cinnamic acid was present in a small amount of 23.14 µg/g in the control, whereas it was 102.19-135.47 µg/g in T1 transgenic plants, showing an increase of 4-5 folds. These results indicated that homogentisic acid, protocatechuic acid, and t-cinnamic acid among the 30 phenolic compounds analyzed, were significantly increased in LebZIP2-overexpressing T1 transgenic plants, and support the evidence that the LebZIP2 gene is significantly involved in the increment of three phenolic compounds

Karyotype and nucleic acid content in Zantedeschia aethiopica Spr. and Zantedeschia elliottiana Engl.

Analysis of karyotype, nucleic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) were performed in Zantedeschia aethiopica and Zantedeschia elliottiana. Mitotic metaphase in both species showed 2n=32. The chromosomes of both species were quite similar with medium length ranging from 1.55 ± 0.04 to 3.85 ± 0.12 μM in Z. aethiopica and 2.15 ± 0.04 to 3.90 ± 0.12 μM in Z. elliottiana. However, some differences were found in morphology and centromeric position among the chromosomes. Identification of individual chromosomes was carried out using chromosomes length, and centromeric positions. The karyotype of Z. aethiopica was determined to be 2n = 32 = 14 m + 18 sm and of Z. elliottiana to be 2n = 32 = 10 m + 22 sm. The 2C nuclear DNA content was found to be 3.72 ± 0.10 picograms (equivalent to 3638.16 mega base pairs) for Z. aethiopica and 1144.26 ± 0.05 picograms (equivalent to 1144.26 mega base pairs) for Z. elliottiana. Leaf protein analysis showed 11 and 9 bands for Z. aethiopica and Z. elliottiana, respectively, among which some were species specific. These results may provide useful information regarding Zantedeschia for the study of taxonomic relationships, genetics and breeding.Keywords: Zantedeschia, karyotype, mitotic metaphase, chromosomes, flow cytometr

Modeling the effects of satiation on the feeding rate of a colonial suspension feeder, Acanthogorgia vegae, in a circulating system under lab conditions

(2002) Modeling the effects of satiation on the feeding rate of a colonial suspension feeder, Acanthogorgia vegae, in a circulating system under lab conditions. Zoological Studies 41(4): 355-365. We developed a mathematical model, based on observations relating to feeding behavior of the gorgonian Acanthogorgia vegae, to characterize the feeding rates of colonial suspension feeders in a circulating system. We found that simultaneously none of all the polyps belonging to the same colony of A. vegae showed a feeding response after capturing a certain amount of Artemia nauplii. Equations in terms of the satiation factor were derived to predict feeding rates of colonial suspension feeders. Flume experiments were conducted under different ambient flow regimes to test the application of the equations. Good agreement between the results of the experiments and the predictions was evident. The results of this study show that satiation is an important factor influencing the feeding rate of colonial suspension feeders with an abundant food supply and a closed system of water. Furthermore, our study shows that the feeding rate of colonial suspension feeders in a circulating system can easily be calculated from the residual number of prey items at various times, even when the initial numbers of prey items and feeding animals are unknown. Our model is useful as a good methodological tool to estimate the feeding rate of colonial suspension feeders in the laboratory or aquacultural environments

Tropical Cyclones Disrupt the Relationship between Tree Height and Species Diversity: Comment

In a recent report on the patterns of tree species richness in eastern and western North America, Marks et al. (2016) claimed to have identified an operational indicator of environmental harshness (maximum tree height) and concluded that environmental stressors that limit tree height also act as ecological filters on species richness. Marks et al. (2017) attributed the positive association between species richness and maximum tree height to both the direct effects of environmental harshness on species richness and the indirect effects of environmental harshness on species richness as mediated by maximum tree height. This finding overlooked the fact that many environmental stressors such as cyclonic disturbance affect tree height and tree species diversity in different directions. In a study of elevational patterns in Taiwan, Chi et al. (2015) reported sharply contrasting relationships between tree species diversity and canopy tree height in sites that were subject to tropical cyclone disturbance vs. those that were not. In the mountains of southeastern China beyond the reach of tropical cyclones, both tree species richness and canopy tree height decreased with increasing elevation (Zheng et al. 2004, Chi et al. 2015), supporting the harshness hypothesis (Marks et al. 2016, 2017). In contrast, in Taiwan, where tropical cyclones occur annually, tree species richness decreased but maximum tree height increased with increasing elevation, the opposite of the predictions of the harshness hypothesis (Fig. 1). We attributed the contrasting elevational patterns and associations between tree diversity and canopy tree height in Taiwan to topographic mediation of tropical cyclone disturbance. The shorter tree stature in lower elevations was attributed to more severe tropical cyclone damage (Chi et al. 2015). Although tropical cyclones limit tree height, tree mortality is very low, possibly a result of both evolutional and ecological responses of these forest ecosystems through the long-term interaction between cyclones and the forest ecosystems (Lin et al. 2011). As an example, multiple category three tropical cyclones on the Saffir-Simpson scale (Simpson and Riehl 1981) caused \u3c2% tree mortality in low-elevation evergreen broadleaf forest in northeastern Taiwan in 1994, a record year of tropical cyclone frequency and intensity (Lin et al. 2011). However, taller trees were selectively killed and defoliation was severe, both of which contributed to the low stature of the forest even though the mean annual temperature (18°C) and precipitation (3800) mm are high (Lin et al. 2011). Cyclone disturbance limits vertical development of trees but does not lead to their elimination. Thus, more tropical cyclone disturbance at lower elevations overrides climatic controls on elevational patterns of tree height but does not change the elevational pattern of tree species richness. We suggest that there is an important difference between actual maximum tree height and potential maximum tree height in the presence of disturbance (e.g., tropical cyclone)