Study of tornado proximity data and an observationally derived model of tornado genesis, A

November 1973.Includes bibliographical references.Sponsored by NOAA 04-3-158-51

On-Farm Food Safety and Environmental Farm Plans: A Conceptual Framework for Identifying and Classifying Benefits and Costs

This series of six reports entitled: "On-Farm Food Safety and Environmental Farm Plans: Identifying and Classifying Benefits and Costs" was initiated soon after the launch of the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) in 2002. The APF recognized the importance of food safety and environmental concerns for the future growth of the agriculture and Agri-food sector. For this reason, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) commissioned this series of reports to develop a conceptual framework to strengthen our understanding of the potential benefit and cost implications of On-farm Food Safety (OFFS) and Environmental Farm Plans (EFP) that were key components of the APF. The reports were prepared by a group of academics with extensive knowledge of the agriculture and Agri-food sector and issues related to food safety, traceability and the environment. The first report presents a summary of the findings in the five main reports in the series. The second report presents the conceptual framework that was developed to help identify qualitatively the potential benefits and costs that the various players in the agriculture and agri-food supply chain would face in implementing OFFS and EFP programs. The third report applies this framework to pork, the fourth, to beef, the fifth, to grains and the sixth, to dairy. In general, benefits and costs are divided into both demand and supply side effects. In addition, both public and private costs and benefits are considered, especially since they help indicate where a role for government might be required and where markets are not working as well as they might. Based on these preliminary qualitative assessments, the beef and pork sector have more to gain from HACCP-based OFFS and EFP initiatives, due to their ability to gain market share from marketing their products internationally, while the grains sector already benefits internationally from its high quality reputation and the dairy sector is restricted to produce only for the domestic market. However, more work is required in these areas to validate and quantify costs and benefits.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A Qualitative Assessment of the Benefits and Costs of On-Farm Food Safety and Environmental Farm Plans in the Dairy Sector

This series of six reports entitled: "On-Farm Food Safety and Environmental Farm Plans: Identifying and Classifying Benefits and Costs" was initiated soon after the launch of the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) in 2002. The APF recognized the importance of food safety and environmental concerns for the future growth of the agriculture and Agri-food sector. For this reason, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) commissioned this series of reports to develop a conceptual framework to strengthen our understanding of the potential benefit and cost implications of On-farm Food Safety (OFFS) and Environmental Farm Plans (EFP) that were key components of the APF. The reports were prepared by a group of academics with extensive knowledge of the agriculture and Agri-food sector and issues related to food safety, traceability and the environment. The first report presents a summary of the findings in the five main reports in the series. The second report presents the conceptual framework that was developed to help identify qualitatively the potential benefits and costs that the various players in the agriculture and agri-food supply chain would face in implementing OFFS and EFP programs. The third report applies this framework to pork, the fourth, to beef, the fifth, to grains and the sixth, to dairy. In general, benefits and costs are divided into both demand and supply side effects. In addition, both public and private costs and benefits are considered, especially since they help indicate where a role for government might be required and where markets are not working as well as they might. Based on these preliminary qualitative assessments, the beef and pork sector have more to gain from HACCP-based OFFS and EFP initiatives, due to their ability to gain market share from marketing their products internationally, while the grains sector already benefits internationally from its high quality reputation and the dairy sector is restricted to produce only for the domestic market. However, more work is required in these areas to validate and quantify costs and benefits.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Electronic Structures of Group 9 Metallocorroles with Axial Ammines

The electronic structures of metallocorroles (tpfc)M(NH_3)_2 and (tfc)M(NH_3)_2 (tpfc is the trianion of 5,10,15-(tris)pentafluorophenylcorrole, tfc is the trianion of 5,10,15-trifluorocorrole, and M = Co, Rh, Ir) have been computed using first principles quantum mechanics [B3LYP flavor of Density Functional Theory (DFT) with Poisson−Boltzmann continuum solvation]. The geometry was optimized for both the neutral systems (formal M^(III) oxidation state) and the one-electron oxidized systems (formally M^(IV)). As expected, the M^(III) systems have a closed shell d^6 configuration; for all three metals, the one-electron oxidation was calculated to occur from a ligand-based orbital (highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of B_1 symmetry). The ground state of the formal M^(IV) system has M^(III)-Cπ character, indicating that the metal remains d^6, with the hole in the corrole π system. As a result the calculated M^(IV/III) reduction potentials are quite similar (0.64, 0.67, and 0.56 V vs SCE for M = Ir, Rh and Co, respectively), whereas the differences would have been large for purely metal-based oxidations. Vertically excited states with substantial metal character are well separated from the ground state in one-electron-oxidized cobalt (0.27 eV) and rhodium (0.24 eV) corroles, but become closer in energy in the iridium (0.15 eV) analogues. The exact splittings depend on the chosen functional and basis set combination and vary by ~0.1 eV

Overview of the Development and Applications of a Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Benefits and Costs of On-Farm Food Safety and Environmental Farm Plans

This series of six reports entitled: "On-Farm Food Safety and Environmental Farm Plans: Identifying and Classifying Benefits and Costs" was initiated soon after the launch of the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) in 2002. The APF recognized the importance of food safety and environmental concerns for the future growth of the agriculture and Agri-food sector. For this reason, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) commissioned this series of reports to develop a conceptual framework to strengthen our understanding of the potential benefit and cost implications of On-farm Food Safety (OFFS) and Environmental Farm Plans (EFP) that were key components of the APF. The reports were prepared by a group of academics with extensive knowledge of the agriculture and Agri-food sector and issues related to food safety, traceability and the environment. The first report presents a summary of the findings in the five main reports in the series. The second report presents the conceptual framework that was developed to help identify qualitatively the potential benefits and costs that the various players in the agriculture and agri-food supply chain would face in implementing OFFS and EFP programs. The third report applies this framework to pork, the fourth, to beef, the fifth, to grains and the sixth, to dairy. In general, benefits and costs are divided into both demand and supply side effects. In addition, both public and private costs and benefits are considered, especially since they help indicate where a role for government might be required and where markets are not working as well as they might. Based on these preliminary qualitative assessments, the beef and pork sector have more to gain from HACCP-based OFFS and EFP initiatives, due to their ability to gain market share from marketing their products internationally, while the grains sector already benefits internationally from its high quality reputation and the dairy sector is restricted to produce only for the domestic market. However, more work is required in these areas to validate and quantify costs and benefits.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A New Technique for Multidimensional Signal Compression

The problem of efficiently compressing a large number, L, of N dimensional signal vectors is considered. The approach suggested here achieves efficiencies over current pre-processing and Karhunen-Loeve techniques when both L and N are large

Disseminated superficial porokeratosis involving the groin and genitalia in a 72-year-old immunocompetent man

The porokeratoses are a group of disorders of abnormal epidermal keratinization resulting in the characteristic histologic feature of the cornoid lamella. Several clinical variants of porokeratosis exist, which are unified by this common histologic feature but differ in morphology, distribution, and clinical course. The typical lesions of porokeratosis are characterized by an atrophic center surrounded by an elevated keratotic rim formed by the cornoid lamella. The lesions can be found almost anywhere on the body; however, the groin and genitalia are rarely involved. We report an unusual presentation of a rare clinical variant

Phenomenology for the decay of energy-containing eddies in homogeneous MHD turbulence

We evaluate a number of simple, one‐point phenomenological models for the decay of energy‐containing eddies in magnetohydrodynamic(MHD) and hydrodynamicturbulence. The MHDmodels include effects of cross helicity and Alfvénic couplings associated with a constant mean magnetic field, based on physical effects well‐described in the literature. The analytic structure of three separate MHDmodels is discussed. The single hydrodynamic model and several MHDmodels are compared against results from spectral‐method simulations. The hydrodynamic model phenomenology has been previously verified against experiments in wind tunnels, and certain experimentally determined parameters in the model are satisfactorily reproduced by the present simulation. This agreement supports the suitability of our numerical calculations for examining MHDturbulence, where practical difficulties make it more difficult to study physical examples. When the triple‐decorrelation time and effects of spectral anisotropy are properly taken into account, particular MHDmodels give decay rates that remain correct to within a factor of 2 for several energy‐halving times. A simple model of this type is likely to be useful in a number of applications in space physics, astrophysics, and laboratory plasma physics where the approximate effects of turbulence need to be included