World processed food trade : a comparative analysis of New Zealand and selected exporters : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Applied Economics in Agricultural Economics at Massey University

International trade in processed food products has been a dynamic component of world economic activity over the past twenty years, with the value of world processed food trade more than tripling between 1976 and 1996. Fueling this growth has been recent dietary trends towards higher-valued processed foods, which has been accelerated by rising incomes, urbanisation and demographic and socio-economic factors. In highly developed markets such as the European Union, North America and Japan, consumer ready processed goods make up a large and growing share of the food and agricultural imports. Consumer ready processed goods are also making inroads in developing countries as consumers demand convenience foods such as frozen 'ready-meals' and evening 'meal solutions.' Despite this, most agro-food trade research has been concentrated on the trade in bulk commodities (non-processed food products). This research evaluates the performance of New Zealand's processed food exports, relative to the performance of five other leading processed food competitors. Combined with revealed comparative advantage indices, a constant market share model is applied to the data to determine factors responsible for enhancing or retarding the performance of a focus country's processed food exports. An important empirical finding is that New Zealand's competitive position in international processed food markets deteriorated over the 1976-1996 period. A combination of declining competitiveness, reduced comparative advantage and a heavy reliance on traditional export markets has eroded New Zealand's share of world processed food trade. The failure to capitalise on the potential offered by Asian markets has also limited the growth of New Zealand's processed food trade. However evidence suggests that since the early 1990s New Zealand has been able to diversify into the fast growing Asian markets and is beginning to increase her competitiveness

Apparent magnitudes in an inhomogeneous universe: the global viewpoint

Apparent magnitudes are important for high precision cosmology. It is generally accepted that weak gravitational lensing does not affect the relationship between apparent magnitude and redshift. By considering metric perturbations it is shown that objects observed in an inhomogeneous universe have, on average, higher apparent magnitudes than those observed at the same redshift in a homogeneous universe.Comment: 2 pages, Latex, with aastex and emulateapj

Interventions for adjustment, impaired self-awareness and empathy

No abstract available

A systematic review of recommended modifications of CBT for people with cognitive impairments following brain injury

Due to diverse cognitive, emotional and interpersonal changes that can follow brain injury, psychological therapies often need to be adapted to suit the complex needs of this population. The aims of the study were to synthesise published recommendations for therapy modifications following brain injury from non-progressive traumatic, vascular, or metabolic causes and to determine how often such modifications have been applied to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for post-injury emotional adjustment problems. A systematic review and narrative synthesis of therapy modifications recommended in review articles and reported in intervention studies was undertaken. Database and manual searches identified 688 unique papers of which eight review articles and 16 intervention studies met inclusion criteria. The review articles were thematically analysed and a checklist of commonly recommended modifications composed. The checklist items clustered under themes of: therapeutic education and formulation; attention; communication; memory; and executive functioning. When this checklist was applied to the intervention studies, memory aids and an emphasis on socialising patients to the CBT model were most frequently reported as adaptations. It was concluded that the inconsistent reporting of psychological therapy adaptations for people with brain injury is a barrier to developing effective and replicable therapies. We present a comprehensive account of potential modifications that should be used to guide future research and practice

Regulation of the ovarian follicular vasculature

Angiogenesis is associated with follicular development and is regulated independently within each follicle potentially making the functioning of its vasculature critically important in determining its fate. This review examines the various ways in which follicular angiogenesis may be monitored, describes the follicular localisation and changes in pro- and anti-angiogenic factors that may regulate the process and how antagonists may be used to elucidate their physiological role in vivo. Thus, inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), VEGF receptor-2, vascular endothelial cell cadherin or interference with the angiopoietin system can inhibit follicular development or prevent ovulation

Angiogenesis in the corpus luteum

The corpus luteum (CL) is a site of intense angiogenesis. Within a short period, this is followed either by controlled regression of the microvascular tree in the non-fertile cycle, or maintenance and stabilisation of the new vasculature a conceptual cycle. The molecular regulation of these diverse aspects is examined. The CL provides a unique model system in which to study the cellular and molecular regulation of angiogenesis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been found to have a major role in the CL. By targeting its action at specific stages of the luteal phase in vivo by antagonists, profound inhibitory effects on luteal angiogenesis and function are observed

Sensitivity of IceCube-DeepCore to neutralino dark matter in the MSSM-25

We analyse the sensitivity of IceCube-DeepCore to annihilation of neutralino dark matter in the solar core, generated within a 25 parameter version of the minimally supersymmetric standard model (MSSM-25). We explore the 25-dimensional parameter space using scanning methods based on importance sampling and using DarkSUSY 5.0.6 to calculate observables. Our scans produced a database of 6.02 million parameter space points with neutralino dark matter consistent with the relic density implied by WMAP 7-year data, as well as with accelerator searches. We performed a model exclusion analysis upon these points using the expected capabilities of the IceCube-DeepCore Neutrino Telescope. We show that IceCube-DeepCore will be sensitive to a number of models that are not accessible to direct detection experiments such as SIMPLE, COUPP and XENON100, indirect detection using Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, nor to current LHC searches.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures. V2: Additional comparisons are made to limits from Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies and to the 125 GeV Higgs signal from the LHC. The spectral hardness section has been removed. Matches version accepted for publication in JCAP. V3: Typos correcte

Repeated impact of simulated hail ice on glass fibre composite materials

Wind turbine blade damage, particularly leading edge erosion, is a significant problem faced by the renewable energy industry. Wind turbines are subject to a wide range of environmental factors during a 20 + year lifespan, with hailstones often touted as a key contributor to the deterioration of the blade profile. An experimental campaign was carried out to investigate the effects of repeated impact of smaller diameter simulated hail ice (SHI) on composite materials, to correspond to those most prevalent at wind farm locations. Hailstones of four different diameters (5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm) were fired at velocities in the range of 50 ms −1 to 95 ms −1. Samples used for experimentation were manufactured from triaxial stitched glass fibre [0°/−45°/+45°] and epoxy resin. Damage was evaluated in terms of sample mass loss and microscopy of the composite surface. For all examples, mass loss was negligible and optical microscopy showed little evidence of surface damage. Surface degradation was discernible under scanning electron microscopy for the larger diameter SHI (≥15mm), with projectile velocity a notable factor in the extent of the damage. Even for large numbers of impacts, there was little noteworthy damage caused by smaller, more prevalent SHI (≤10mm). This suggests that hail is not a direct cause of wind turbine blade erosion

Severity of disease and risk of malignant change in hereditary multiple exostoses. A genotype-phenotype study

We performed a prospective genotype-phenotype study using molecular screening and clinical assessment to compare the severity of disease and the risk of sarcoma in 172 individuals (78 families) with hereditary multiple exostoses. We calculated the severity of disease including stature, number of exostoses, number of surgical procedures that were necessary, deformity and functional parameters and used molecular techniques to identify the genetic mutations in affected individuals. Each arm of the genotype-phenotype study was blind to the outcome of the other. Mutations EXT1 and EXT2 were almost equally common, and were identified in 83% of individuals. Non-parametric statistical tests were used. There was a wide variation in the severity of disease. Children under ten years of age had fewer exostoses, consistent with the known age-related penetrance of this condition. The severity of the disease did not differ significantly with gender and was very variable within any given family. The sites of mutation affected the severity of disease with patients with EXT1 mutations having a significantly worse condition than those with EXT2 mutations in three of five parameters of severity (stature, deformity and functional parameters). A single sarcoma developed in an EXT2 mutation carrier, compared with seven in EXT1 mutation carriers. There was no evidence that sarcomas arose more commonly in families in whom the disease was more severe. The sarcoma risk in EXT1 carriers is similar to the risk of breast cancer in an older population subjected to breast-screening, suggesting that a role for regular screening in patients with hereditary multiple exostoses is justifiable. ©2004 British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery