Social Ecologies of Harlem Studio Board

https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/spring2016_margetts/1009/thumbnail.jp

Economics of managing acid soils in dryland mixed cropping systems: comparing gross margins with whole-farm analysis derived using a business process model

A 12-year experiment designed to show the benefits of applying lime to acid soils when growing annual pasture, perennial pasture, and annual crops in rotations with annual or perennial pastures, provides the context for comparing methods of economic analysis. In this study enterprise gross margins are compared with whole-farm cumulative monthly cash flows derived using a business process model. The current study gave gross margins comparable with those of a recently published study based on the first 12 years of the same field experiment at Book Book near Wagga Wagga in southern NSW (Li et al., 2010). Both gross margin analyses indicated positive results for all treatments. However, because key fixed and capital cost items were not taken into account in the gross margin analysis the financial benefits of the treatments were overstated. In the whole-farm analysis, a full set of accounts (including fixed and capital costs) was developed for the experimental combinations of prime lamb and dryland cropping enterprises and used to generate a monthly cash flow sequence for each treatment over the 12-year term of the experiment. This full financial analysis, where all costs are included, showed all mixed treatments (cropping and grazing) accumulated unsustainable losses over the period of the trial. The grazing-only treatments generated positive cash lows over the 12 year period, but 2 accumulated high levels of debt in the initial years. None of these outcomes were predicted by gross margins, which were consistently positive for all treatments. This paper concludes that the analysis of trial results benefits from interpretation in the context of whole-farm analysis, verified by district experience. Relying on gross margin analysis alone would have supported loss-making outcomes in this trial. This conclusion has important ramifications for analysis of all systems trials.Agribusiness,

CEO BEHAVIOR AND SUBPRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS

ABSTRAC

Subsoil Acidity Determines Survival of Lucerne on a Highly Acidic Soil

Lucerne (Medicago sativa) is one of most productive perennial species in southern Australia. However, productivity is severely restricted under acid soils (Irwin et al. 2001). Fenton et al. (1996) reported that lucerne performs poorly if soil pH was below 5 and exchangeable aluminium was over 5%. It is estimated that there are 24 m ha of acidic subsoil in southern Australia (Dolling et al. 2001). A long-term liming experiment, 1992 to 2010, aimed to ameliorate subsoil acidity via a vigorous liming program (Li et al. 2001). This paper reports survival of lucerne during the 3rd cycle of the experiment from 2004 to 2009

Application of integrated formation evaluation and three-dimensional modeling in shale gas prospect identification

Identifying the shale gas prospect is crucial for gas extraction from suchreservoirs. Junggar Basin (in Northwest China) is widely considered tohave high potential as a shale gas resource, and the Jurassic, the mostsignificant gas source strata, is considered as prospective for shale gasexploration and development. This study evaluated the Lower JurassicBadaowan Formation shale gas potential combined with geochemical,geological, and well logging data, and built a three-dimensional (3D)model to exhibit favorable shale gas prospects. In addition, methane sorption capacity was tested for verifying the prospects. The Badaowan shalehad an average total organic carbon (TOC) content of 1.30 wt. % andvitrinite reflectance (Ro) ranging from 0.47% to 0.81% with dominatedtype III organic matter (OM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses showedthat mineral composition of Badaowan shale was fairly homogeneous anddominated by clay and brittle minerals. 67 wells were used to identifyprospective shale intervals and to delineate the area of prospects. Consequently, three Badaowan shale gas prospects in the Junggar Basin wereidentified: the northwestern margin prospect, eastern Central Depressionprospect and Wulungu Depression prospect. The middle interval of thenorthwestern margin prospect was considered to be the most favorableexploration target benefitted by wide distribution and high lateral continuity. Generally, methane sorption capacity of the Badaowan shale wascomparable to that of the typical gas shales with similar TOC content,showing a feasible gas potential

Lucerne for Acid Soils: A Field Evaluation of Early Generation Aluminium Tolerant Genotypes

The development of lucerne germplasm tolerant of acidic soil conditions has long been a research objective of international significance. Many initiatives have previously failed to produce genotypes with adequate improvement in tolerance to be deemed economically viable and as a consequence, still no cultivar of lucerne exists that has improved adaptation to acidic soils. An Australian research program spanning the previous decade sought to redress this issue by developing lucerne genotypes with significantly enhanced tolerance to aluminium (Al) toxicity. Using recurrent selection in hydroponic solution culture, populations selected comprised individuals which displayed enhanced seedling root growth following a pulse of Al toxic solution (Scott et al. 2008). A subsequent pot experiment showed that these populations exhibited up to 40% increase in seedling root length when grown in an acidic soil with high Al concentration, though there was a differential response observed between the elite populations (Hayes et al. 2011). The current study tested the hypothesis that lucerne establishment in the field would be higher in populations selected in high Al solution culture when grown in an acidic soil environment

Knowledge mapping and global trends in the field of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound and endocrine and metabolic diseases: a bibliometric and visual analysis from 2012 to 2022

BackgroundLow-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) is a highly promising therapeutic method that has been widely used in rehabilitation, orthopedics, dentistry, urology, gynecology, and other multidisciplinary disease diagnoses and treatments. It has attracted extensive attention worldwide. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive and systematic research on the current status and future development direction of the LIPUS field. Therefore, this study comprehensively analyzed LIPUS-related reports from the past decade using bibliometrics methods, and further conducted research specifically focusing on its application in endocrine and metabolic diseases.MethodsWe downloaded LIPUS literature from 2012 to 2022 reported in the Web of Science Core Collection Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and used bibliometric analysis software such as VOSviewer and CiteSpace to execute the analysis and visualize the results.ResultsWe searched for 655 English articles published on LIPUS from 2012 to 2022. China had the highest number of published articles and collaborations between China and the United States were the closest in this field. Chongqing Medical University was the institution with the highest output, and ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY was the journal with the most related publications. In recent years, research on the molecular mechanisms of LIPUS has continued to deepen, and its clinical applications have also continued to expand. The application of LIPUS in major diseases such as oxidative stress, regeneration mechanism, and cancer is considered to be a future research direction, especially in the field of endocrinology and metabolism, where it has broad application value.ConclusionGlobal research on LIPUS is expected to continue to increase, and future research will focus on its mechanisms of action and clinical applications. This study comprehensively summarizes the current development status and global trends in the field of LIPUS, and its research progress in the field of endocrine and metabolic diseases, providing valuable reference for future research in this field

Ligands of Therapeutic Utility for the Liver X Receptors.

Liver X receptors (LXRs) have been increasingly recognized as a potential therapeutic target to treat pathological conditions ranging from vascular and metabolic diseases, neurological degeneration, to cancers that are driven by lipid metabolism. Amidst intensifying efforts to discover ligands that act through LXRs to achieve the sought-after pharmacological outcomes, several lead compounds are already being tested in clinical trials for a variety of disease interventions. While more potent and selective LXR ligands continue to emerge from screening of small molecule libraries, rational design, and empirical medicinal chemistry approaches, challenges remain in minimizing undesirable effects of LXR activation on lipid metabolism. This review provides a summary of known endogenous, naturally occurring, and synthetic ligands. The review also offers considerations from a molecular modeling perspective with which to design more specific LXRβ ligands based on the interaction energies of ligands and the important amino acid residues in the LXRβ ligand binding domain