5,076 research outputs found
CHINA'S ACCESSION TO THE WTO AND IMPACTS ON LIVESTOCK TRADE AND PRODUCTION PATTERNS
This paper was presented at the INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS SYMPOSIUM in Auckland, New Zealand, January 18-19, 2001. The Symposium was sponsored by: the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium, the Venture Trust, Massey University, New Zealand, and the Centre for Applied Economics and Policy Studies, Massey University. Dietary changes, especially in developing countries, are driving a massive increase in demand for livestock products. The objective of this symposium was to examine the consequences of this phenomenon, which some have even called a "revolution." How are dietary patterns changing, and can increased demands for livestock products be satisfied from domestic resources? If so, at what cost? What will be the flow-on impacts, for example, in terms of increased demands for feedgrains and the pressures for change within marketing systems? A supply-side response has been the continued development of large-scale, urban-based industrial livestock production systems that in many cases give rise to environmental concerns. If additional imports seem required, where will they originate and what about food security in the importing regions? How might market access conditions be re-negotiated to make increased imports achievable? Other important issues discussed involved food safety, animal health and welfare and the adoption of biotechnology, and their interactions with the negotiation of reforms to domestic and trade policies. Individual papers from this conference are available on AgEcon Search. If you would like to see the complete agenda and set of papers from this conference, please visit the IATRC Symposium web page at: http://www1.umn.edu/iatrc.intro.htmInternational Relations/Trade, Production Economics,
RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION, LABOR MOBILITY AND AGRICULTURAL TRADE LIBERALIZATION IN CHINA
Under the terms of its accession to the WTO, China will likely commit to significant liberalization of its agricultural trade regimes. In this paper we consider how growing levels of urban unemployment, combined with a restrictive labor market policy, may alter the expected welfare effects of agricultural reform. We utilize a new AGE model of the Chinese economy based on the Harris-Todaro framework, incorporating imperfect labor mobility.International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital,
Qatar Exoplanet Survey : Qatar-3b, Qatar-4b and Qatar-5b
We report the discovery of Qatar-3b, Qatar-4b, and Qatar-5b, three new
transiting planets identified by the Qatar Exoplanet Survey (QES). The three
planets belong to the hot Jupiter family, with orbital periods of
=2.50792 days, =1.80539 days, and =2.87923 days.
Follow-up spectroscopic observations reveal the masses of the planets to be
=4.31 , =6.10 , and
= 4.32 , while model fits to the transit light
curves yield radii of = 1.096 , =
1.135 , and = 1.107 . The
host stars are low-mass main sequence stars with masses and radii =
1.145 , = 0.896 ,
= 1.128 and = 1.272 ,
= 0.849 and = 1.076
for Qatar-3, 4 and 5 respectively. The V magnitudes of the three
host stars are =12.88, =13.60, and =12.82. All three
new planets can be classified as heavy hot Jupiters (M > 4 ).Comment: 13Pages, 8Figure
Efficient Distribution Analysis via Graph Contraction
Alignment and distribution of data by an optimizing compiler is a dream of both manufacturers and users of parallel computers. The distribution problem has been formulated as an NP-complete graph optimization problem. The graphs arising in applications are large, and the optimization problem does not lend itself to traditional heuristic optimization techniques. In this paper, we improve some earlier results on methods that use graph contraction to reduce the size of a distribution problem. We report on an experiment using seven example programs that show these contraction operations to be effective in practice; we obtain from 60 to 99 percent reductions in problem size, the larger number being more typical, without loss of solution quality
Atmospheric Escape From Three Terrestrial Planets in the L 98-59 System
A critically important process affecting the climate evolution and potential
habitability of an exoplanet is atmospheric escape, in which high-energy
radiation from a star drives the escape of hydrogen atoms and other light
elements from a planet's atmosphere. L 98-59 is a benchmark system for studying
such atmospheric processes, with three transiting terrestrial-size planets
receiving Venus-like instellations (4-25 S) from their M3 host star.
We use the VPLanet model to simulate the evolution of the L 98-59 system and
the atmospheric escape of its inner three small planets, given different
assumed initial water quantities. We find that, regardless of their initial
water content, all three planets accumulate significant quantities of oxygen
due to efficient water photolysis and hydrogen loss. All three planets also
receive enough XUV flux to drive rapid water loss, which considerably affects
their developing climates and atmospheres. Even in scenarios of low initial
water content, our results suggest that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
will be sensitive to observations of retained oxygen on the L 98-59 planets in
its future scheduled observations, with planets b and c being the most likely
targets to possess an extended atmosphere. Our results constrain the
atmospheric evolution of these small rocky planets, and they provide context
for current and future observations of the L 98-59 system to generalize our
understanding of multi-terrestrial planet systems.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Protochlamydia naegleriophila as Etiologic Agent of Pneumonia
Using ameba coculture, we grew a Naegleria endosymbiont. Phenotypic, genetic, and phylogenetic analyses supported its affiliation as Protochlamydia naegleriophila sp. nov. We then developed a specific diagnostic PCR for Protochlamydia spp. When applied to bronchoalveolar lavages, results of this PCR were positive for 1 patient with pneumonia. Further studies are needed to assess the role of Protochlamydia spp. in pneumonia
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