Agricultural Cooperatives and Unions of Cooperatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Opportunities for Improvement

Given the breakup of Yugoslavia and the ensuing war, there has been massive changes in the agricultural structure in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In particular, the remade cooperatives and the unions of cooperatives that are supposed to serve them are struggling. This paper examines the needs of the agricultural cooperatives to be more successful and identifies what support will likely come from the unions of cooperatives and what must come from other sources. Data was obtained in three ways: 1) questionnaires to a large group of cooperatives, 2) focus groups with a smaller number of cooperatives, and 3) personal interviews with union of cooperatives representatives. The findings indicated that the unions of cooperatives are working on institutional issues such as registering and auditing cooperatives, and resolving land ownership conflicts. However, since the cooperatives are not familiar with the market economy, they also need help in business management, marketing, legal services, and organizational effectiveness. It is not likely that the unions will be able to help the cooperatives with these issues. New partners such as the Ministry of Agriculture, colleges of agriculture, or non-governmental organizations should be tasked with providing this educational support.Bosnia and Herzegovina, agricultural cooperatives, union of agricultural cooperatives, agricultural development, Agribusiness,

REGIONAL COST SHARE NECESSARY FOR RANCHER PARTICIPATION IN BRUSH CONTROL

Large-scale brush-control programs are being proposed in Texas to increase off-site water yields. Biophysical and economic simulation models are combined to estimate the effects of brush control on representative ranches in four ecological regions of the Edwards Plateau area of Texas. Net present values of representative ranches in three of four regions decrease with brush control. Cost shares necessary for ranches from the three regions to break even range from 7% to 31% of total brush-control costs. Any large-scale brush-control program will therefore require a substantial investment by the state of Texas.Agribusiness,

Inhibition of VSV Genome RNA Replication but Not Transcription by Monoclonal Antibodies Specific for the Viral P Protein

AbstractThe growth of vesicular stomatitis virus requires two distinct RNA synthetic events: transcription of messenger RNA molecules and replication of the viral genome RNA. We report the use of a panel of monoclonal antibodies directed against the viral phosphoprotein P in an attempt to assess the role of this protein in RNA synthesis. Using extracts derived from virus-infected cells, we show that several anti-P monoclonal antibodies can have an inhibitory effect on genome RNA replication by binding to a soluble form of the P protein. We also show that the P protein to which one of these antibodies (6D11) is directed is not complexed with the N protein and that the amount of soluble P protein that binds to the 6D11 antibody in immunoprecipitation reactions can be increased by treating extracts with alkaline phosphatase. In addition, phosphatase treatment of infected cell extracts results in an increased level of genome RNA replication. These results suggest that a soluble subspecies of the P protein that functions in genome RNA replication exists in infected cells and that this species of the P protein is not required for transcription

Classification and analysis of emission-line galaxies using mean field independent component analysis

We present an analysis of the optical spectra of narrow emission-line galaxies, based on mean field independent component analysis (MFICA). Samples of galaxies were drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and used to generate compact sets of `continuum' and `emission-line' component spectra. These components can be linearly combined to reconstruct the observed spectra of a wider sample of galaxies. Only 10 components - five continuum and five emission line - are required to produce accurate reconstructions of essentially all narrow emission-line galaxies; the median absolute deviations of the reconstructed emission-line fluxes, given the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the observed spectra, are 1.2-1.8 sigma for the strong lines. After applying the MFICA components to a large sample of SDSS galaxies we identify the regions of parameter space that correspond to pure star formation and pure active galactic nucleus (AGN) emission-line spectra, and produce high S/N reconstructions of these spectra. The physical properties of the pure star formation and pure AGN spectra are investigated by means of a series of photoionization models, exploiting the faint emission lines that can be measured in the reconstructions. We are able to recreate the emission line strengths of the most extreme AGN case by assuming the central engine illuminates a large number of individual clouds with radial distance and density distributions, f(r) ~ r^gamma and g(n) ~ n^beta, respectively. The best fit is obtained with gamma = -0.75 and beta = -1.4. From the reconstructed star formation spectra we are able to estimate the starburst ages. These preliminary investigations serve to demonstrate the success of the MFICA-based technique in identifying distinct emission sources, and its potential as a tool for the detailed analysis of the physical properties of galaxies in large-scale surveys.Comment: MNRAS accepted. 29 pages, 24 figures, 3 table

Interpreting the Ionization Sequence in AGN Emission-Line Spectra

We investigate the physical cause of the great range in the ionization level seen in the spectra of narrow lined active galactic nuclei (AGN). Mean field independent component analysis identifies examples of individual SDSS galaxies whose spectra are not dominated by emission due to star formation (SF), which we designate as AGN. We assembled high S/N ratio composite spectra of a sequence of these AGN defined by the ionization level of their narrow-line regions (NLR), extending down to very low-ionization cases. We used a local optimally emitting cloud (LOC) model to fit emission-line ratios in this AGN sequence. These included the weak lines that can be measured only in the co-added spectra, providing consistency checks on strong line diagnostics. After integrating over a wide range of radii and densities our models indicate that the radial extent of the NLR is the major parameter in determining the position of high to moderate ionization AGN along our sequence, providing a physical interpretation for their systematic variation. Higher ionization AGN contain optimally emitting clouds that are more concentrated towards the central continuum source than in lower ionization AGN. Our LOC models indicate that for the objects that lie on our AGN sequence, the ionizing luminosity is anticorrelated with the NLR ionization level, and hence anticorrelated with the radial concentration and physical extent of the NLR. A possible interpretation that deserves further exploration is that the ionization sequence might be an age sequence where low ionization objects are older and have systematically cleared out their central regions by radiation pressure. We consider that our AGN sequence instead represents a mixing curve of SF and AGN spectra, but argue that while many galaxies do have this type of composite spectra, our AGN sequence appears to be a special set of objects with negligible SF excitation.Comment: 57 pages; 18 figures, accepted by MNRA

Deduction of a Functional Dependency from a Set of Functional Dependencies

This paper describes an algorithm called the Deduction Tracing Algorithm (DTA) which utilizes basic properties of functional dependencies from database systems and a modification of a tree search algorithm from artificial intelligence. The algorithm takes a set of functional dependencies, F, along with a specific functional dependency L → R as input and produces a list of functional dependencies from F that can be used to deduce L → R. The resulting algorithm is easily automated to provide relational database users with a tool for organizing their queries

Interpreting the Ionization Sequence in Star-Forming Galaxy Emission-Line Spectra

High ionization star forming (SF) galaxies are easily identified with strong emission line techniques such as the BPT diagram, and form an obvious ionization sequence on such diagrams. We use a locally optimally emitting cloud model to fit emission line ratios that constrain the excitation mechanism, spectral energy distribution, abundances and physical conditions along the star-formation ionization sequence. Our analysis takes advantage of the identification of a sample of pure star-forming galaxies, to define the ionization sequence, via mean field independent component analysis. Previous work has suggested that the major parameter controlling the ionization level in SF galaxies is the metallicity. Here we show that the observed SF- sequence could alternatively be interpreted primarily as a sequence in the distribution of the ionizing flux incident on gas spread throughout a galaxy. Metallicity variations remain necessary to model the SF-sequence, however, our best models indicate that galaxies with the highest and lowest observed ionization levels (outside the range -0.37 < log [O III]/H\b{eta} < -0.09) require the variation of an additional physical parameter other than metallicity, which we determine to be the distribution of ionizing flux in the galaxy.Comment: 41 pages, 17 figures, 9 tables, accepted to MNRA

Water Salvage Potentials in Utah, Volume I. Open Water Evaporation and Monolayer Suppression Potential

An estimate of the potential in Utah for evaporation suppression by the monolayer film method is presented. The model estimates evaporation suppression as a function of wind speed, a four parameter exposure factor, and reservoir size. The estimated suppression factors vary from 0 to 30 percent and average 11 percent of the statewide total annual evaporation. Estimates of May to October evaporation and suppression potential are calculated for each of the 227 impoundments in the surface water inventory. A forthcoming report in this series will examine the potential for evaporation suppression by thermal destratification. This procedure, which is already being used for water quality improvement, appears to have greater potential than the monolayer concept for suppre sion on deep reservoirs

Cancer Surgery in the Elderly

The proportions both of elderly patients in the world and of elderly patients with cancer are both increasing. In the evaluation of these patients, physiologic age, and not chronologic age, should be carefully considered in the decision-making process prior to both cancer screening and cancer treatment in an effort to avoid ageism. Many tools exist to help the practitioner determine the physiologic age of the patient, which allows for more appropriate and more individualized risk stratification, both in the pre- and postoperative periods as patients are evaluated for surgical treatments and monitored for surgical complications, respectively. During and after operations in the oncogeriatric populations, physiologic changes occuring that accompany aging include impaired stress response, increased senescence, and decreased immunity, all three of which impact the risk/benefit ratio associated with cancer surgery in the elderly