Meat Industry Performance and Organisational Form

The purpose of this report is to review the contemporary history of the meat packing industry and particularly the role of cooperatives and investor-owned firms in its development. The report that follows is divided into three parts. Part One reports briefly the contemporary history of the meat industry, Part Two looks at the changing structure and performance of this industry, Part Three assesses the evolution and performance of the now-large cooperative processor PPCS, and Part Four reviews the evolution of the now-investor firm AFFCO

Meat Industry Performance and Organisational Form

The purpose of this report is to review the contemporary history of the meat packing industry and particularly the role of cooperatives and investor-owned firms in its development. The report that follows is divided into three parts. Part One reports briefly the contemporary history of the meat industry Part Two looks at the changing structure and performance of this industry Part Three assesses the evolution and performance of the now-large cooperative processor PPCS and Part Four reviews the evolution of the now-investor firm AFFCO

Aortic Ring Assay

Angiogenesis, the sprouting of blood vessels from preexisting vasculature is associated with both natural and pathological processes. Various angiogenesis assays involve the study of individual endothelial cells in culture conditions (1). The aortic ring assay is an angiogenesis model that is based on organ culture. In this assay, angiogenic vessels grow from a segment of the aorta (modified from (2)). Briefly, mouse thoracic aorta is excised, the fat layer and adventitia are removed, and rings approximately 1 mm in length are prepared. Individual rings are then embedded in a small solid dome of basement matrix extract (BME), cast inside individual wells of a 48-well plate. Angiogenic factors and inhibitors of angiogenesis can be directly added to the rings, and a mixed co-culture of aortic rings and other cell types can be employed for the study of paracrine angiogenic effects. Sprouting is observed by inspection under a stereomicroscope over a period of 6-12 days. Due to the large variation caused by the irregularities in the aortic segments, experimentation in 6-plicates is strongly advised. Neovessel outgrowth is monitored throughout the experiment and imaged using phase microscopy, and supernatants are collected for measurement of relevant angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors, cell death markers and nitrite

The mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger upregulates glucose dependent Ca2+ signalling linked to insulin secretion.

Mitochondria mediate dual metabolic and Ca(2+) shuttling activities. While the former is required for Ca(2+) signalling linked to insulin secretion, the role of the latter in β cell function has not been well understood, primarily because the molecular identity of the mitochondrial Ca(2+) transporters were elusive and the selectivity of their inhibitors was questionable. This study focuses on NCLX, the recently discovered mitochondrial Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger that is linked to Ca(2+) signalling in MIN6 and primary β cells. Suppression either of NCLX expression, using a siRNA construct (siNCLX) or of its activity, by a dominant negative construct (dnNCLX), enhanced mitochondrial Ca(2+) influx and blocked efflux induced by glucose or by cell depolarization. In addition, NCLX regulated basal, but not glucose-dependent changes, in metabolic rate, mitochondrial membrane potential and mitochondrial resting Ca(2+). Importantly, NCLX controlled the rate and amplitude of cytosolic Ca(2+) changes induced by depolarization or high glucose, indicating that NCLX is a critical and rate limiting component in the cross talk between mitochondrial and plasma membrane Ca(2+) signalling. Finally, knockdown of NCLX expression was followed by a delay in glucose-dependent insulin secretion. These findings suggest that the mitochondrial Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger, NCLX, shapes glucose-dependent mitochondrial and cytosolic Ca(2+) signals thereby regulating the temporal pattern of insulin secretion in β cells

Meat Industry Performance and Organisational Form

The purpose of this report is to review the contemporary history of the meat packing industry and particularly the role of cooperatives and investor-owned firms in its development. The report that follows is divided into three parts. Part One reports briefly the contemporary history of the meat industry Part Two looks at the changing structure and performance of this industry Part Three assesses the evolution and performance of the now-large cooperative processor PPCS and Part Four reviews the evolution of the now-investor firm AFFCO

Meat Industry Performance and Organisational Form

The purpose of this report is to review the contemporary history of the meat packing industry and particularly the role of cooperatives and investor-owned firms in its development. The report that follows is divided into three parts. Part One reports briefly the contemporary history of the meat industry, Part Two looks at the changing structure and performance of this industry, Part Three assesses the evolution and performance of the now-large cooperative processor PPCS, and Part Four reviews the evolution of the now-investor firm AFFCO

Algorithms, Automation, and News

This special issue examines the growing importance of algorithms and automation in the gathering, composition, and distribution of news. It connects a long line of research on journalism and computation with scholarly and professional terrain yet to be explored. Taken as a whole, these articles share some of the noble ambitions of the pioneering publications on ‘reporting algorithms’, such as a desire to see computing help journalists in their watchdog role by holding power to account. However, they also go further, firstly by addressing the fuller range of technologies that computational journalism now consists of: from chatbots and recommender systems, to artificial intelligence and atomised journalism. Secondly, they advance the literature by demonstrating the increased variety of uses for these technologies, including engaging underserved audiences, selling subscriptions, and recombining and re-using content. Thirdly, they problematize computational journalism by, for example, pointing out some of the challenges inherent in applying AI to investigative journalism and in trying to preserve public service values. Fourthly, they offer suggestions for future research and practice, including by presenting a framework for developing democratic news recommenders and another that may help us think about computational journalism in a more integrated, structured manner

SN 2006bp: Probing the Shock Breakout of a Type II-P Supernova

HET optical spectroscopy and unfiltered ROTSE-III photometry spanning the first 11 months since explosion of the Type II-P SN 2006bp are presented. Flux limits from the days before discovery combined with the initial rapid brightening suggest the supernova was first detected just hours after shock breakout. Optical spectra obtained about 2 days after breakout exhibit narrow emission lines corresponding to HeII 4200, HeII 4686, and CIV 5805 in the rest frame, and these features persist in a second observation obtained 5 hours later; however, these emission lines are not detected the following night nor in subsequent observations. We suggest that these lines emanate from material close to the explosion site, possibly in the outer layers of the progenitor that have been ionized by the high energy photons released at shock breakout. A P-Cygni profile is observed around 4450 A in the +2 and +3 day spectra. Previous studies have attributed this feature to high velocity H-beta, but we discuss the possibility that this profile is instead due to HeII 4687. Further HET observations (14 nights in total) covering the spectral evolution across the photometric plateau up to 73 days after breakout and during the nebular phase around day +340 are presented, and expansion velocities are derived for key features. The measured decay slope for the unfiltered light curve is 0.0073 +/- 0.0004 mag/day between days +121 and +335, which is significantly slower than the decay of rate 56Co. We combine our HET measurements with published X-ray, UV, and optical data to obtain a quasi-bolometric light curve through day +60. We see a slow cooling over the first 25 days, but no sign of an early sharp peak; any such feature from the shock breakout must have lasted less than ~1 day.[ABRIDGED]Comment: ApJ accepted, 43 page

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters with intramolecular proton transfer for high luminance solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes

AKG is grateful to the Royal Society for Newton International Fellowship NF171163. We acknowledge support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK (grants EP/P010482/1 and EP/L017008/1). We thank the EPSRC UK National Mass Spectrometry Facility at Swansea University for analytical services. We thank Umicore for providing palladium (II) acetate.We report an organic emitter containing a β-triketone electron acceptor core and phenoxazine as the electron donors ( TPXZBM ) for solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The resulting molecule is very unusual because it shows both thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and intramolecular proton transfer. We compare its performance with the previously reported diketone analogue PXZPDO . Solution-processed OLEDs of PXZPDO and TPXZBM show maximum external quantum efficiencies of 20.1% and 12.7%, respectively. The results obtained for the solution-processed PXZPDO -based device are as good as the previously reported evaporated device. At a very high luminance of 10,000 cd/m2 the efficiency of the OLEDs was 10.6% for PXZPDO and 4.7% for TPXZBM , demonstrating relatively low efficiency roll-off for TADF materials. The low efficiency roll-off was rationalized on the basis of the short delayed lifetimes of 1.35 μs for PXZPDO and 1.44 μs for TPXZBM . Our results suggest that intramolecular proton transfer may be useful for the design of OLED materials with low efficiency roll-off.PostprintPeer reviewe