Lessons Learned in the Southern Region after the First Year of Implementation of the New Commodity Programs

The development of the commodity programs in the 2008 Farm Bill involved the origination of two complex revenue support initiatives. The two new programs, Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) and Supplemental Revenue Assurance (SURE), expanded the risk management tool kit of agricultural producers. The SURE program is a permanent disaster assistance program, whereas the ACRE program is a revenue-based commodity program offered as an alternative to the price-based Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program (DCP) created in the 2002 Farm Bill. For the 2009 signup, only 7.7% of eligible U.S. farms enrolled in the ACRE program. In the southern region, three states had no farms electing ACRE and four others had less than 50. Excluding Oklahoma, less than 1% of all farms in 13 southern states made the ACRE election.farm policy, Food Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, Average Crop Revenue Election Program (ACRE), Supplemental Revenue Assistance (SURE), Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Farm Management, Political Economy, Q1,

Updating the Farm Bill Safety Net in an Expanding Sea of Risk

Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, H10,

Introduction

Lean Aircraft Initiative Plenary Workshop presentatio

Welcome and Introduction of New Members

Lean Aircraft Initiative Plenary Workshop presentatio

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 Summary and Possible Consequences

The primary purpose of this article is to provide a summary and briefly comment on key provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (PL 110-246) and discuss possible consequences of the selected provisions. As passed by the House and Senate, the act contains 15 titles (the pdf version covering 683 pages). While most provisions will be at least briefly discussed, more attention will be devoted to the production-related provisions, especially substantive changes from the 2002 act. The general title of any new farm bill is telling in both what is significant in the bill and in what the authors want you to think is significant. The Conference report was titled as the Food, Conservation and Energy Act. “Food” refers to the importance of the consumers; “Conservation” calls attention to the importance of the environment and “Energy” calls attention to concerns over current high gas and food prices. As well as building coalitions for passage of the bill, concentration on these three issues also signify that farm prices and the farm safety net are not accorded as high a priority as in past farm bills. It is our opinion that opposition to commodity provisions had much to do with the focus of the bill

Initial Top-Level Characterization of the Air Force Sustainment System

This draft white paper presents an initial top-level characterization of the Air Force sustainment system. The first part of the paper gives an overview of the proposed conceptual framework for system characterization. The second part presents an initial top-level characterization of the system, by using this framework, and offers some preliminary suggestions or recommendations. Finally, next steps in the research process are outlined, placing the paper in the larger context of the task on system characterization and transformation

Change the Name! A Critical Case Study Analysis of The September 29th Movement

Though many in the Iowa State University community celebrated the renaming of Old Botany Hall to Carrie Chapman Catt Hall, a group of students pushed to reopen the naming process because of how Carrie Lane Chapman Catt aligned herself with white supremacists during her campaign to win women’s suffrage. The September 29th Movement was an intersectional, student-led initiative “dedicated to the elimination of racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, and classism at Iowa State University, recognizing that changing the name of Catt Hall, a symbol of exclusion, must be the first step in that struggle.” The group took its name from the date “September 29, 1995,” which was when they published an essay about Carrie Lane Chapman Catt in Uhuru!, the newsletter of Iowa State University Black Student Alliance. The essay entitled “The Catt is out of the Bag: Was she racist?” raised issues of racism within the women’s suffrage movement and questioned whether Carrie Lane Chapman Catt was racist. Though the name Catt Hall remains, students forced the university to make significant changes through their organizing efforts. Our case study chronicles the legacy of The September 29th Movement

Siderophilin Metal Coordination. 1. Complexation of Thorium by Transferrin: Structure-Function Implications

As part of a program to develop actinide-specific sequestering agents, the coordination of actinide ions by human transferrin is being investigated. Therapeutically useful synthetic ligands must be able to compete with this iron-transport protein for the bound actinide ion. As in the Fe(III) complex of the native protein, two Th(IV) ions bind at pH 7. This coordination has been monitored at several pH values by using difference ultraviolet spectroscopy. The corresponding coordination of a phenolic ligand, ethylene-bis-(o-hydroxyphenylglycine) [EHPG], has been used to determine {Delta}{epsilon} for a tyrosyl group coordinated to Th(IV), in contrast to the common practice of assuming the {Delta}{epsilon} for protons and all metal ions is the same. This in turn is used to determine, from the observed {Delta}{epsilon} upon protein coordination, the number of transferrin tyrosine residues that coordinate. Maxima in the Th(IV) + EHPG difference UV spectra occur at 292 and 238 nm, with corresponding {Delta}{epsilon} values per phenolic group of 2330 and 8680 cm{sup -1} M{sup -1}, respectively. At pH 7.2, the Th(IV) transferrin spectrum is closely similar to the TH(IV) EHPG spectrum, with maxima at 292 and 240 nm. The {Delta}{epsilon} at 240 nm reaches a maximum of 24700 cm{sup -1} M{sup -1}, which corresponds to coordination of three tyrosine residues in the dithorium-transferrin complex; the stronger binding site (“A” or C-terminal) coordinates via two tyrosines and the weaker (“B” or N-terminal) via one. There is evidence suggesting that the N-terminal site is slightly smaller than the C-terminal site; while Th(IV) easily fits into the C-terminal site, the large ionic radius of Th(IV) makes this ion of borderline size to fit into the N-terminal site. This may be an important biological difference between Th(IV) and the slightly smaller Pu(IV), which should easily fit into both sites. At pH values below 7, the complexation of Th(IV) by transferrin decreases rapidly. At pH 6 and a Th(IV)/transferrin ratio of 2, only ~0.3 Th(IV) are bound per protein ([Th] = 10{sup -5}M). The N-terminal site is more rapidly affected by lowering the pH, so that coordination is entirely at the C-terminal site at low pH. Above pH 9, the conformation at the C-terminal site (two tyrosines) changes such that only one tyrosine is bound, the same that pertains at the N-terminal site at neutral pH. In addition to the three protons released by the coordinating tyrosine residues, the complexation of two Th(IV) ions releases two more protons at pH 8.6, which are ascribed to hydrolysis, so that the metal is bound as a monohydroxo species. It is suggested that diferric transferrin undergoes a similar reaction, and the other implications of these results for the structure and function of the native ferric transferrin are discussed

A large proportion of asymptomatic Plasmodium infections with low and sub-microscopic parasite densities in the low transmission setting of Temotu Province, Solomon Islands: challenges for malaria diagnostics in an elimination setting

Background: Many countries are scaling up malaria interventions towards elimination. This transition changes demands on malaria diagnostics from diagnosing ill patients to detecting parasites in all carriers including asymptomatic infections and infections with low parasite densities. Detection methods suitable to local malaria epidemiology must be selected prior to transitioning a malaria control programme to elimination. A baseline malaria survey conducted in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands in late 2008, as the first step in a provincial malaria elimination programme, provided malaria epidemiology data and an opportunity to assess how well different diagnostic methods performed in this setting