An Economic Evaluation of Conservation Farming Practices for the Central West of NSW

Economic benefits that arise from conservation farming practices need to be assessed over several years to account for improvements in soil structure and nutrient levels. A gross margin model was used to assess benefits over the eight-year period 1999-2006 for 12 regions in the central west of NSW. The annual benefits from improved soil structure ranged from $2.46 to$12.82 per hectare (ha). A reduction in tractor power produced annual savings in the range of $0.60 to$4.05 per ha. The cost of soil compaction by livestock grazing on crop areas ranged from $3.41 to$14.90 per ha. The break-even time to pay back costs for the conversion of machinery for no-till seeding was two to three seasons.No-till, conservation, farming, tillage, cropping systems, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management,

Identification of substitute muscle groups for retail beef demand and supply equations

In modelling retail meat demand and supply equations it is difficult to identify close substitutes or competing products. However, close substitutes can be identified through a comparison of meat attributes, especially cooking method and sensory attributes. The Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading system can be used to identify primals (whole muscles) with similar attributes. The MSA system is based on carcase attributes, cooking methods and sensory properties and it allocates 3, 4 or 5 stars to beef primals. Prices for different star grades are affected by the quantity of meat allocated into each grade and this is determined by cooking method, which is dependent upon season. Estimating demand and supply by MSA grades and cooking methods requires fewer variables and therefore reduces multicollinearity and increases model efficiency.MSA, beef cuts, sensory attributes and cooking methods.,

Grower representation and its impact on the governance structure of the Australian Grains Industry

The Australian wheat industry has changed considerably in structure and governance during the past 15 years. The most important changes have been the deregulation of the domestic market and privitisation of the former Australian Wheat Board into AWB Limited. Through these changes growers have become shareholders in the various companies. Governance of the monopolistic relationship between AWB Limited and AWB International by the Federal Minister of Agriculture and the Grains Council of Australia through the Wheat Export Authority has proved ineffective. Hence a national organisation that represents shareholders is recommended to increase grower governance of the supply chain and marketing of wheat.grain, marketing, infrastructure, competition, governance, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Marketing,

A hedonic model of lamb carcass attributes

Lamb carcass value is widely reported to be a function of lean meat yield, which is the relationship between muscle, fat and bone. Five retailers and five wholesalers assessed 47 lamb carcasses from diverse genotypes and scored seven attributes. A hedonic model reveals that conformation attributes were more highly valued (16 c/kg) relative to yield characteristics (4 c/kg). Meat colour and fat distribution were significant for retailers, but less important for wholesalers. Genotype was not a strong indicator of conformation. Eye muscle area and depth were correlated with Fat C; however, these were not significant. These results indicate that carcass conformation, meat colour and fat distribution should be incorporated into carcass grading models.Hedonic, lamb, conformation and meat value, attributes, Livestock Production/Industries,

An Approach To Determining The Market For Academic Positions: Application To The Discipline Of Agricultural Economics

This paper presents relevant issues in choice of an academic career in the chosen discipline of each student.  The analytical model, applied to agricultural economics, is a supply/demand construct

Nasal Birth Trauma: A Review of Appropriate Treatment

The aetiology of nasal deformity has frequently included birth trauma. There is no consensus in the literature as to whether nasal surgery, in the form of closed reduction, is indicated in neonates. The majority of studies in the literature that advocate intervention have inadequate followup periods and there is a paucity of evidence for the adverse effects of conservative management. This case highlights the therapeutic dilemma posed by such nasal injuries in the neonate and, to the best of the authors' knowledge, at the time of writing, represents the earliest reported case in the literature of nasal deformity in the neonate. The term nasal deformity is used to denote deformity of the nasal pyramid, soft tissue, and septum. Three main aspects of neonatal nasal deformity are addressed including, firstly, if nasal deformity at birth needs to be addressed, secondly, if left unaltered, what the long-term effects are and, finally, if intervention alters the normal course of midfacial development

Succession and stability in two rocky intertidal communities on the central Oregon coast

The stability of a limpet-dominated community was assessed in a experiment in which an consumer was temporarily removed. Compared to unmanipulated plots, the limpet-exclusion plots developed greater algal abundance and altered species composition of both algae and barnacles. The community was not perturbed beyond its capacity to recover, since the community structure of the limpet-removal plots converged on the structure of the unmanipulated plots after limpet reintroduction. Different components of the community recovered at different rates, depending on whether a species had a size-related escape from limpets. The length of the limpet-removal period did not affect community recovery. The mechanisms of succession were investigated in a community dominated by the barnacle Balanus glandula and the alga Pelvetiopsis limitata. Competition for space with Balanus excluded the barnacle, Chthamalus dalli, as succession proceeded. Chthamalus did not affect Balanus. Algal colonization was strongly facilitated by Balanus, but not Chthamalus. Algal recruitment to epoxy-filled barnacle tests indicated that facilitation resulted from barnacle tests altering the substrate, not from the activities of the living animal. Manipulations of barnacle and herbivore abundances demonstrated that facilitation was an mediated by limpets. Consumers decreased the rate of succession, supporting a model of how consumers affect the rate of succession as a function of both the model of succession and the successional status of the species consumed. Both gap size and position within a gap influenced algal cover, limpet density and species composition, but not total barnacle cover or the density and species composition of algal recruits. The results supported the prediction that the effects on succession of increasing gap size are similar to the effects of moving towards the center of a gap

Consensus coding sequence (CCDS) database: a standardized set of human and mouse protein-coding regions supported by expert curation.

The Consensus Coding Sequence (CCDS) project provides a dataset of protein-coding regions that are identically annotated on the human and mouse reference genome assembly in genome annotations produced independently by NCBI and the Ensembl group at EMBL-EBI. This dataset is the product of an international collaboration that includes NCBI, Ensembl, HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee, Mouse Genome Informatics and University of California, Santa Cruz. Identically annotated coding regions, which are generated using an automated pipeline and pass multiple quality assurance checks, are assigned a stable and tracked identifier (CCDS ID). Additionally, coordinated manual review by expert curators from the CCDS collaboration helps in maintaining the integrity and high quality of the dataset. The CCDS data are available through an interactive web page (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CCDS/CcdsBrowse.cgi) and an FTP site (ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/CCDS/). In this paper, we outline the ongoing work, growth and stability of the CCDS dataset and provide updates on new collaboration members and new features added to the CCDS user interface. We also present expert curation scenarios, with specific examples highlighting the importance of an accurate reference genome assembly and the crucial role played by input from the research community. Nucleic Acids Res 2018 Jan 4; 46(D1):D221-D228

The Consensus Coding Sequence (Ccds) Project: Identifying a Common Protein-Coding Gene Set for the Human and Mouse Genomes

Effective use of the human and mouse genomes requires reliable identification of genes and their products. Although multiple public resources provide annotation, different methods are used that can result in similar but not identical representation of genes, transcripts, and proteins. The collaborative consensus coding sequence (CCDS) project tracks identical protein annotations on the reference mouse and human genomes with a stable identifier (CCDS ID), and ensures that they are consistently represented on the NCBI, Ensembl, and UCSC Genome Browsers. Importantly, the project coordinates on manually reviewing inconsistent protein annotations between sites, as well as annotations for which new evidence suggests a revision is needed, to progressively converge on a complete protein-coding set for the human and mouse reference genomes, while maintaining a high standard of reliability and biological accuracy. To date, the project has identified 20,159 human and 17,707 mouse consensus coding regions from 17,052 human and 16,893 mouse genes. Three evaluation methods indicate that the entries in the CCDS set are highly likely to represent real proteins, more so than annotations from contributing groups not included in CCDS. The CCDS database thus centralizes the function of identifying well-supported, identically-annotated, protein-coding regions.National Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.) (Grant number 1U54HG004555-01)Wellcome Trust (London, England) (Grant number WT062023)Wellcome Trust (London, England) (Grant number WT077198