The Costs and Returns of Scottish Potato Production

The gross and net margins for a representative sample of 53 Scottish potato producers classed as "Seed" (>80% of area grown for seed), "Ware" (>80% of area grown for Ware) and "Mixed" for the rest were obtained for the 1999 growing season according to the methodology of MAFF (1990,1999). The farms were arable. Yields were average but for seed growers for whom tuber number in the seed size is more important. Prices were the lowest for six years variable costs were high and gross margins are above the best for cereals. However fixed costs excluding seasonally rented land are considerable leaving negative net margins. Potato price fluctuates widely. Prices were high in 1998. Applying these prices to the 1999 data left good net margins. Average prices still left reasonable net margins. Break-even prices were £85/t for ware and £200/t for seed, which were not reached in three of the last six years. These results show the considerable investment in both fixed and variable costs and risk for this important Scottish crop.Crop Production/Industries,

Effect of Farm-Level Constraints, Existing and Prospective Policies on Expansion of Coconut-Based Intercropping in Sri Lanka

Coconut-based intercropping (CBI) in Sri Lanka was introduced some 20 years ago to overcome the two main limitations of traditional coconut monocropping, inefficient land use and low incomes to farmers, but it has not been widely adopted. This study analyses the effect of farm-level resource constraints, and government policies on the intensity of adoption of CBI. A multiperiod linear programming (MLP) model was applied for three farmer groups - resource poor, medium endowed, well endowed - categorised using cluster analysis. Data was collected from a survey of randomly selected 113 intercroppers. Empirical results reveal that expansion of CBI is mainly constrained by seasonal labour shortages for all farmer groups, particularly the well endowed, and by the scarcity of cash in the case of resource-poor farmers. CBI policies aimed at subsidising inputs or intercrop prices are not likely to be efficient in raising adoption, but alternative policies aimed at alleviating resource constraints would be more effective. The study concluded that the low adoption of CBI is mainly attributable to the scarcity of different farm-level resources (other than land), at varying degrees among different farmer groups. Hence a targeted approach to alleviate them is suggested.Crop Production/Industries,

The regulation of matrix metalloproteinases and their inhibitors

The matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are a family of 23 enzymes in man. These enzymes were originally described as cleaving extracellular matrix (ECM) substrates with a predominant role in ECM homeostasis, but it is now clear that they have much wider functionality. Control over MMP and/or tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP) activity in vivo occurs at different levels and involves factors such as regulation of gene expression, activation of zymogens and inhibition of active enzymes by specific inhibitors. Whilst these enzymes and inhibitors have clear roles in physiological tissue turnover and homeostasis, if control of their expression or activity is lost, they contribute to a number of pathologies including e.g. cancer, arthritis and cardiovascular disease. The expression of many MMPs and TIMPs is regulated at the level of transcription by a variety of growth factors, cytokines and chemokines, though post-transcriptional pathways may contribute to this regulation in specific cases. The contribution of epigenetic modifications has also been uncovered in recent years. The promoter regions of many of these genes have been, at least partly, characterised including the role of identified single nucleotide polymorphisms. This article aims to review current knowledge across these gene families and use a bioinformatic approach to fill the gaps where no functional data are available

Labour Management for Profit and Welfare in Extensive Sheep Farming

Sheep welfare is an emerging topic in research and food marketing, and recent studies suggest that farm labour is a key factor for both animal welfare and productivity in extensive sheep farming systems, although little research has been done into labour utilisation in these systems. This paper reports field data collection on two commercial farms and the use of a linear programming (LP) model to link labour economics and animal welfare analysis. The model maximises the number of ewes to clooked after over the lambing period, when constrained by labour availability for various key tasks and by a pre-determined level of sheep welfare. The results show a trade-off between welfare level and labour input per sheep. Dropping tasks with less significant welfare and productivity consequences is an effective way of increasing carrying capacity (from 977 ewes/shepherd to 1428), as is working longer hours (1174 ewes/shepherd) or only doing the legal minimum of welfare checking (labour reduced from 0.68 min/ewe to 0.44 min/ewe) . The field data suggest that farmers currently provide high welfare, and that, despite much time spent away from the flock (e.g. driving), they spend a large amount of time (39% of total) with their sheep.Labour, Sheep, Linear Programming, Animal Welfare, Livestock Production/Industries, Q10, Q19, Y1,

Independently controlling permittivity and diamagnetism in broadband, low-loss, isotropic metamaterials at microwave frequencies

Copyright © 2015 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters, Volume 106 (10), article 101908, and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4915097A metamaterial based on the design of Shin et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 093903 (2009)] that allows independent control of its permeability and permittivity has been fabricated and experimentally characterised. It is comprised of an array of metallic cubic-shaped elements with faces that are connected only through six orthogonal spokes emanating from the centre. The permeability is tailored through appropriate patterning of the faces, thereby controlling the propagation of eddy currents around the cubic elements while permittivity may be controlled by the thickness and dielectric constant of the inter-cube spacers.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)DST

Estimation of the prevalence of cholesteryl ester storage disorder in a cohort of patients with clinical features of familial hypercholesterolaemia

Background and aim Familial hypercholesterolaemia is caused by variants in the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol metabolic pathway involving LDLR, APOB and PCSK9 genes. A national genetic testing service in Wales, UK has observed that no familial hypercholesterolaemia variant is found in almost 80% patients with the familial hypercholesterolaemia phenotype. It has recently been suggested that some adult patients with a familial hypercholesterolaemia phenotype may have cholesteryl ester storage disease which can also present as a mixed hyperlipidaemia. The commonest genetic cause of cholesteryl ester storage disease is an exon 8 splice junction variant in the LIPA gene (rs116928232, c.894G>A; E8SJM) previously found to have an allele frequency of 0.0011 (1 in 450 individuals) in a large European population. This study investigated the prevalence of the E8SJM in patients with a familial hypercholesterolaemia phenotype in Wales, UK. Method A total of 1203 patients with a clinical suspicion of familial hypercholesterolaemia but no familial hypercholesterolaemia variant were invited to participate. Of these, 668 patients provided informed written consent. Stored DNA samples from 663 patients were genotyped for the E8SJM variant. Results Three heterozygotes were identified (allele frequency 0.0023). Whole gene sequencing of the LIPA gene was undertaken in these three individuals, but no other variants were found. Therefore, there were no cholesteryl ester storage disease patients (homozygote or compound heterozygote) identified in this cohort. Conclusion The allele frequency 0.0023 (1 in 221 individuals) for the E8SJM variant was more prevalent in this cohort than in a European population study; however, no cholesteryl ester storage disease homozygotes were identified. We found no evidence to support routine testing for cholesteryl ester storage disease in adult patients with a familial hypercholesterolaemia phenotype

Application of mass spectrometry-based proteomics to barley research

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is the fourth most cultivated crop in the world in terms of production volume, and it is also the most important raw material of the malting and brewing industries. Barley belongs to the grass (Poaceae) family and plays an important role in food security and food safety for both humans and livestock. With the global population set to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, but with less available and/or suitable land for agriculture, the use of biotechnology tools in breeding programs are of considerable importance in the quest to meet the growing food gap. Proteomics as a member of the “omics” technologies has become popular for the investigation of proteins in cereal crops and particularly barley and its related products such as malt and beer. This technology has been applied to study how proteins in barley respond to adverse environmental conditions including abiotic and/or biotic stresses, how they are impacted during food processing including malting and brewing, and the presence of proteins implicated in celiac disease. Moreover, proteomics can be used in the future to inform breeding programs that aim to enhance the nutritional value and broaden the application of this crop in new food and beverage products. Mass spectrometry analysis is a valuable tool that, along with genomics and transcriptomics, can inform plant breeding strategies that aim to produce superior barley varieties. In this review, recent studies employing both qualitative and quantitative mass spectrometry approaches are explored with a focus on their application in cultivation, manufacturing, processing, quality, and the safety of barley and its related products

MAID : An effect size based model for microarray data integration across laboratories and platforms

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gene expression profiling has the potential to unravel molecular mechanisms behind gene regulation and identify gene targets for therapeutic interventions. As microarray technology matures, the number of microarray studies has increased, resulting in many different datasets available for any given disease. The increase in sensitivity and reliability of measurements of gene expression changes can be improved through a systematic integration of different microarray datasets that address the same or similar biological questions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Traditional effect size models can not be used to integrate array data that directly compare treatment to control samples expressed as log ratios of gene expressions. Here we extend the traditional effect size model to integrate as many array datasets as possible. The extended effect size model (MAID) can integrate any array datatype generated with either single or two channel arrays using either direct or indirect designs across different laboratories and platforms. The model uses two standardized indices, the standard effect size score for experiments with two groups of data, and a new standardized index that measures the difference in gene expression between treatment and control groups for one sample data with replicate arrays. The statistical significance of treatment effect across studies for each gene is determined by appropriate permutation methods depending on the type of data integrated. We apply our method to three different expression datasets from two different laboratories generated using three different array platforms and two different experimental designs. Our results indicate that the proposed integration model produces an increase in statistical power for identifying differentially expressed genes when integrating data across experiments and when compared to other integration models. We also show that genes found to be significant using our data integration method are of direct biological relevance to the three experiments integrated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>High-throughput genomics data provide a rich and complex source of information that could play a key role in deciphering intricate molecular networks behind disease. Here we propose an extension of the traditional effect size model to allow the integration of as many array experiments as possible with the aim of increasing the statistical power for identifying differentially expressed genes.</p

Sliding mode control of quantum systems

This paper proposes a new robust control method for quantum systems with uncertainties involving sliding mode control (SMC). Sliding mode control is a widely used approach in classical control theory and industrial applications. We show that SMC is also a useful method for robust control of quantum systems. In this paper, we define two specific classes of sliding modes (i.e., eigenstates and state subspaces) and propose two novel methods combining unitary control and periodic projective measurements for the design of quantum sliding mode control systems. Two examples including a two-level system and a three-level system are presented to demonstrate the proposed SMC method. One of main features of the proposed method is that the designed control laws can guarantee desired control performance in the presence of uncertainties in the system Hamiltonian. This sliding mode control approach provides a useful control theoretic tool for robust quantum information processing with uncertainties.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Lake sedimentary DNA accurately records 20th Century introductions of exotic conifers in Scotland

Summary:Sedimentary DNA (sedDNA) has recently emerged as a new proxy for reconstructing past vegetation, but its taphonomy, source area and representation biases need better assessment. We investigated how sedDNA in recent sediments of two small Scottish lakes reflects a major vegetation change, using well-documented 20th Century plantations of exotic conifers as an experimental system. We used next-generation sequencing to barcode sedDNA retrieved from subrecent lake sediments. For comparison, pollen was analysed from the same samples. The sedDNA record contains 73 taxa (mainly genus or species), all but one of which are present in the study area. Pollen and sedDNA shared 35% of taxa, which partly reflects a difference in source area. More aquatic taxa were recorded in sedDNA, whereas taxa assumed to be of regional rather than local origin were recorded only as pollen. The chronology of the sediments and planting records are well aligned, and sedDNA of exotic conifers appears in high quantities with the establishment of plantations around the lakes. SedDNA recorded other changes in local vegetation that accompanied afforestation. There were no signs of DNA leaching in the sediments or DNA originating from pollen