Implications of the U.S. Farm Act on Canadian Agriculture

This paper addresses the implications of the U.S. Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 or "Farm Act" for Canadian agriculture. The Farm Act, which is expected to add at least US $45 billion in new price supports over its six-year timeframe, is expected to harm the position of less-subsidized and non-subsidized producers in Canada and other countries. Canadian farm products will be less competitive not only domestically, but also in the U.S. and in third-country markets. Canada will be most affected by subsidies for corn, soybeans, wheat, and pulse crops. New country-of-origin labeling rules under the Farm Act are also expected to be disruptive to Canadian livestock exports. In addressing these issues the paper also explores potential Canadian responses - including filing WTO or NAFTA complaints - as well as the broader implications for U.S.-Canada trade and international cooperation.U.S. Farm Bill, U.S.-Canada trade, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Underlying inflation in the spanish economy: estimation and methodology

This paper presents a methodology to analyse the inflationary process in Spain. It is based on forecasts of the Consumer Price Index using quantitative models to obtain a measure of underlying inflation and the expected medium-term value of the annual price growth rate, which is called inertia in the paper. Every time a new observation becomes available, the study of the underlying inflation and inertia allows to be performed a systematic analysis of the inflationary process. The estimation of underlying inflation and inertia has also proven useful to improve the measurement of some important economic indicators such as inflation differentials and ex-ante real interest rates

La loi sur les jeunes contrevenants et les masse-médias

The recent enactment of the Young Offenders Act has ended a long period of the rule of the “parens patriae”, philosophy whereby the juvenile court's task was not to administer just punishment for the offence but to diagnose and treat the underlying problems. The new legislation, which follows the “justice model”, attempts to broaden legal rights of accused juveniles while simultaneously making juvenile law more punitive and more focused on specific criminal offences. The present article looks at the way the Canadian mass media reported on this major historical shift in the juvenile justice philosophy. The overt and hidden messages are analysed and the sources of the prevailing definitions explored. It has been found that the majority of informants represented powerful interest groups and organizations. Moreover, the investigated press reports created an image of fundamental consensus, and the new legislation was presented as being beneficial to the society as a whole. The inherent contradictions in the philosophy underlying the new Act were overlooked in favour of an image of a perfect balance whereby ambivalences of the new approach became transformed into virtues. The article tests a number of hypotheses and offers theoretical interpretations of the findings. The applicability of the consensual functionalist, critical functionalist and Marxist orientations is assessed

The Walrasian and Von Neumann Equilibria: A Comparison

The two economic concepts mentioned in the title deal with different features of an economy, the first with the distribution of produced goods between consumers according to their preferences, the second with the growth of the economy through “production of commodities by means of commodities” (Sraffa), leaving the mechanism of consumption almost completely aside. It seems interesting that in spite of these differences many similarities between the models can be found and that the von Neumann model can be adjusted to account for the preferences of consumers. This seems to be the main result of the paper

Advanced synchrotron studies of ye'elimite-based cement pastes

Synchrotron characterization techniques [1] are being used to study Portland-based cements and recently also CSA and related cements. A key property of these techniques is that they do not require sample preparation, so the microstructures of the pastes can be preserved. The classical application of synchrotron tools is powder diffraction used to determine the crystalline phase content evolution with hydration including the overall amorphous fraction. Furthermore, other most advanced techniques are being applied to ye'elimite-containing pastes such as i) Total Scattering Synchrotron Powder Diffraction (TS-SXPD), and ii) Ptychographic Synchrotron X-ray Computed Tomography (PSXCT). All these applications will be reviewed here. TS-SXPD data coupled with the Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis methodology [2] allows having a better insight about the nanocrystalline/amorphous atomic arrangements in the gels. It has been very recently shown that nanogibbsite with very small particles, 3nm, is the main constituent of ye'elimite-gypsum hydration paste [2]. Nanogibbsite particles being smaller than those originated from the hydration of monocalcium aluminate. In addition, PSXCT is a tomographic technique that profits from the partly coherent nature of the synchrotron beam to provide better (smaller) resolution, which can be lower than 100 nm. It also provides the mass densities if the chemical stoichiometries are known. This technique has been applied to ye'elimite hydration to determine the microstructure and chiefly the bulk densities of nanogibbsite [3]. The microstructure evolution at early age was also followed [4]. Figure 1 shows an example of a slide of the electron density tomogram for a ye'elimite paste at 8 days of hydration and the corresponding histogram for the full volume with all phases identified.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.This work has been supported by Spanish MINECO through BIA2014-57658-C2 and BIA2017-82391-R, which are co-funded by FEDER

Clinkering and hydration study of non-active and active Belite-Alite-Ye'elimite (BAY) cements

The aim of AIM is to promote industry-driven, interdisciplinary research in material science and engineering in order to provide leading-edge, sustainable solutions to the challenges facing engineers in today’s changing society and environment. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/aim/conference-info/37ccsThe manufacturing process of ye'elimite rich cements emit about 15-37% less CO2 to the atmosphere than OPC. Cements that contain belite, ye’elimite and ferrite, known as BYF cements, are promising eco-friendly binders. However, belite, their main phase, shows a slow hydrating behaviour; therefore the corresponding mortars present lower mechanical strengths than OPC at early ages. To solve this problem, BYF clinkers can be activated by: i) forming alite jointly with belite and ye’elimite during clinkering, known as BAY clinkers. The alite and ye’elimite reaction with water should develop high mechanical strengths at early ages, besides, belite contributes to later curing times. ii) A second activation is based on the stabilisation of alpha forms of belite by dopants. The objective of this work is to obtain two types of BAY clinkers (standard and active BAY) using CaF2 as mineraliser and borax as dopant agent to stabilize alpha forms of belite phase. After that, anhydrite was added as sulphate source to obtain the corresponding cements. The hydration behaviour of these cements has been studied through rheological and x-ray diffraction measurements, the latter combined with Rietveld quantitative phase analysis. In addition, mechanical and dimensional properties of BAY mortars are also presented and discussed.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Diversity and biological aspects of wild bees in an urban and a natural environment in the central region of Santa Fe, Argentina

El objetivo del presente trabajo fue relevar el elenco de abejas silvestres en la región central de Santa Fe y comparar la diversidad de especies y aspectos biológicos en dos ambientes de una misma región. Las abejas fueron colectadas en el estrato herbáceo de la Reserva Universitaria “Escuela Granja” de la localidad Esperanza, y en la zona urbana de la localidad Susana, ambas ubicadas dentro de la Provincia Fitogeográfica del Espinal. La colecta se realizó en octubre, noviembre y diciembre de 2004 y en enero, febrero y marzo de 2005, registrando las especies vegetales sobre las que se capturaron. Se colectaron 277 ejemplares en total, de los cuales se identificaron 62 especies (27 géneros en 5 familias). Las curvas de rarefacción indican una tasa de acumulación de especies mayor para la Reserva Ecológica, los índices de diversidad de Shannon son 3,25 para la Reserva Ecológica y 2,64 para la Zona Urbana. Para la comparación de las comunidades en ambos sitios, las abejas fueron clasificadas en tres categorías según la especialización en el uso del recurso floral, sustrato de nidificación y comportamiento social. Se observó una asociación entre los grupos especialistas y de nidificación en el suelo con el ambiente natural, y por otro lado, las especies generalistas y de nidificación en cavidades con el ambiente urbano. No se identificaron diferencias, en cuanto al tipo de comportamiento social de las especies, entre ambos sitios.The purpose of this contribution is to present a survey of wild bees in the central region of Santa Fe, and to compare the diversity and biological aspects of the bee communities at two different environments of the same region. Bees were surveyed at the ecological reserve Reserva Universitaria “Escuela Granja” in the locality of Esperanza, and at an urban area in the locality of Susana, both in the Espinal Phytogeographic Province. Bees were sampled from October to December 2004 and from January to March 2005, recording their plant associations. A total of 277 specimens were collected, belonging to 62 species (27 genera in 5 families). The rarefaction curves indicate a higher rate of species accumulation for the ecological reserve; the Shannon diversity index was 3.25 for the ecological reserve and 2.64 for the urban area. In order to compare the composition of the bee communities at the two sites, the bees were classified into three categories: degree of specialization in the use of floral resources, nesting substrate, and social behavior. It was observed that specialized bees who nest in the soil showed an association with the natural environment while the generalist species who nest in pre-existing cavities showed an association with the urban environment. No association was found between type of social behavior and type of environment.Fil: Dalmazzo, Maria de Los Milagros. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; Argentin

Angiotensin-(1-7) increases osmotic water permeability in isolated toad skin

Angiotensin-(1-7) (Ang-(1-7)) increased osmotic water permeability in the isolated toad skin, a tissue with functional properties similar to those of the distal mammalian nephron. Concentrations of 0.1 to 10 μM were effective, with a peak at 20 min. This effect was similar in magnitude to that of frog skin angiotensin II (Ang II) and oxytocin but lower than that of human Ang II and arginine-vasotocin. The AT2 angiotensin receptor antagonist PD 123319 (1.0 μM) fully inhibited the response to 0.1 μM Ang-(1-7) but had no effect on the response to Ang II at the same concentration. The specific receptor antagonist of Ang-(1-7), A-779, was ineffective in blocking the response to Ang-(1-7) and to frog skin Ang II. The AT1 receptor subtype antagonist losartan, which blocked the response to frog skin Ang II, was ineffective in blocking the response to Ang-(1-7). The present results support the view of an antidiuretic action of Ang-(1-7) in the mammalian nephron.Fil: Santos, Juan Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Jerez, Susana Josefina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Peral, Maria de Los Angeles. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Coviello, Alfredo. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentin