STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES AND REVENUE GAINS FROM MARKET POWER: THE CASE OF BARLEY MARKETING AND THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD

According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) is the largest state trading enterprise reporting to the World Trade Organization under article XVII requirements. This study estimates the market power exerted by the CWB in international barley markets. The analysis incorporates international price discrimination across markets for similar types of barley, the intertwining relationships between feed and malting barley markets, and producer behavior in the absence of the CWB. The CWB was able to capture an annual average of $72 million in additional revenue beyond the amount that would have been generated by purely competitive multiple sellers of Canadian barley during the period 1985-94.Marketing,

STRUCTURE OF FARMING UNDER FREER TRADE AMONG NAFTA COUNTRIES

International Relations/Trade,

The Influence of Sapwood-Heartwood Conversion of Bordered Pit Tori In Western Hemlock on Bisulfite Pulping

In an effort to determine why heartwood of western Hemlock [Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.] is difficult to pulp by sulfite technology, ultraviolet (UV) and scanning electron microscopy were used to examine hemlock heartwood and sapwood before and after acid-bisulfite pulping. Resulting data showed that UV-absorbing material that is located in the intertracheid bordered-pit membranes and that is solvent-extractable in the sapwood is suggested to be low molecular weight procyanidins that polymerize into unextractable polymers during heartwood formation. Condensation of these polymers occurs under the strongly acidic conditions of acid bisulfite pulping, reducing wood permeability to cooking liquor

Systematics and life history studies of Rocky Mountains butterflies

Includes bibliographical references.This note discusses previously-unrecognized adult wing pattern forms of Papilio multicaudata Kirby, a discussion of ecological causes of these forms, and the reasons that the name pusillus Austin & J. Emmel is an early seasonal form and not a subspecies. Form minimulticaudata is tiny in size, and is caused by starvation of second-generation larvae in the lower mountains the previous late summer. This research was started when Michael S. Fisher was studying the forms he was observing. As a result, the tiny form minimulticaudata was named by Fisher & Scott in Fisher (2012), who summarized the distribution and flight periods of the forms

Cultural expectations of muscularity in men: The evolution of playgirl centerfolds

Abstract: Objective: We sought to assess whether cultural ideals of the male body, as illustrated by magazine models, have changed over the past 25 years. Method: We examined 115 male centerfold models in Playgirl magazine from 1973 to 1997. Using the models’ heights and weights quoted by the magazine, together with visual estimates of body fat, we calculated the body mass index (BMI) and fat-free mass index (FFMI) of each model. Results: The Playgirl centerfold models became increasingly “dense ” and more muscular over time, as indicated by the significant correlations between BMI, FFMI, and year of publication. Discussion: These observations, in combination with previous studies, suggest that cultural norms of the ideal male body are growing increasingly muscular. © 2000 by John Wiley &amp

Tuning hole mobility in InP nanowires

Transport properties of holes in InP nanowires were calculated considering electron-phonon interaction via deformation potentials, the effect of temperature and strain fields. Using molecular dynamics, we simulate nanowire structures, LO-phonon energy renormalization and lifetime. The valence band ground state changes between light- and heavy-hole character, as the strain fields and the nanowire size are changed. Drastic changes in the mobility arise with the onset of resonance between the LO-phonons and the separation between valence subbands.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Infrared constraints on the dark mass concentration observed in the cluster Abell 1942

We present a deep H-band image of the region in the vicinity of the cluster Abell 1942 containing the puzzling dark matter concentration detected in an optical weak lensing study by Erben et al. (2000). We demonstrate that our limiting magnitude, H=22, would be sufficient to detect clusters of appropriate mass out to redshifts comparable with the mean redshift of the background sources. Despite this, our infrared image reveals no obvious overdensity of sources at the location of the lensing mass peak, nor an excess of sources in the I-H vs. H colour-magnitude diagram. We use this to further constrain the luminosity and mass-to-light ratio of the putative dark clump as a function of its redshift. We find that for spatially-flat cosmologies, background lensing clusters with reasonable mass-to-light ratios lying in the redshift range 0<z<1 are strongly excluded, leaving open the possibility that the mass concentration is a new type of truly dark object.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. MNRAS submitted (after referee revision

Potassium administration increases and potassium deprivation reduces urinary calcium excretion in healthy adults

Potassium administration increases and potassium deprivation reduces urinary calcium excretion in healthy adults. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of dietary K intake, independent of whether the accompanying anion is Cl- or HCO3-, on urinary Ca excretion in healthy adults. The effects of KCl, KHCO3, NaCl and NaHCO3 supplements, 90 mmol/day for four days, were compared in ten subjects fed normal constant diets. Using synthetic diets, the effects of dietary KCl-deprivation for five days followed by recovery were assessed in four subjects and of KHCO3-deprivation for five days followed by recovery were assessed in four subjects. On the fourth day of salt administration, daily urinary Ca excretion and fasting UCaV/GFR were lower during the administration of KCl than during NaCl supplements (Δ = -1.11 ± 0.28 SEM mmol/day; P < 0.005 and -0.0077 ± 0.0022 mmol/liter GFR; P < 0.01), and lower during KHCO3 than during control (-1.26 ± 0.29 mmol/day; P < 0.005 and -0.0069 ± 0.0019 mmol/liter GFR; P = 0.005). Both dietary KCl and KHCO3 deprivation (mean reduction in dietary K intake -67 ± 8 mmol/day) were accompanied by an increase in daily urinary Ca excretion and fasting UCaV/GFR that averaged on the fifth day +1.31 ± 0.25 mmol/day (P < 0.005) and +0.0069 ± 0.0012 mmol/liter GFR (P < 0.005) above control. Both daily urinary Ca excretion and fasting UCaV/GFR returned toward or to control at the end of recovery. These observations indicate that: 1) KHCO3 decreases fasting and 24-hour urinary Ca excretion; 2) KCl nor NaHCO3, unlike NaCl, do not increase fasting or 24-hour Ca excretion and 3) K deprivation increases both fasting and 24-hour urinary Ca excretion whether the accompanying anion is Cl- or HCO3-. The mechanisms for this effect of K may be mediated by: 1) alterations in ECF volume, since transient increases in urinary Na and CI excretion and weight loss accompanied KCl or KHCO3 administration, while persistent reductions in urinary Na and Cl excretion and a trend for weight gain accompanied K deprivation; 2) K mediated alterations in renal tubular phosphate transport and renal synthesis of 1, 25-(OH)2-vitamin D, since KCl or KHCO3 administration tended to be accompanied by a rise in fasting serum PO4 and TmPO4 and a fall in fasting UPO4 V/GFR, a fall in serum 1,25-(OH)2-D and a decrease in fasting UCaV/GFR, while dietary KCl or KHCO3 deprivation were accompanied by a reverse sequence