AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES AND RISK MANAGEMENT:IMPACT ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Agricultural cooperatives, like all agribusinesses, operate in an inherently risky environment. Many risk management tools exist, but agricultural cooperatives have been slow to adopt sophisticated risk management practices. Using simulation methods, this paper presents insight into how both traditional and innovative risk management practices effect the distribution of key financial variables for agricultural cooperatives.Agribusiness,

RISK MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION

While not ignoring risk, agricultural cooperatives tend to accommodate risk through the holding of internal capital reserves rather than engage in active risk management. A lack of information regarding the risk, returns, and the effect on cooperative financial performance of both traditional and innovative risk management strategies is likely a constraint to the adoption of active risk management by cooperatives. In this research, we examine the influence of alternative risk management strategies on cooperative financial performance, namely the return on assets (ROA) of grain merchandising cooperatives of various sizes. Strategies include traditional exchange traded futures and options strategies, an over-the-counter revenue swap, throughput insurance, and combinations of price and throughput strategies. Each of these strategies, for small, medium, and large size firms, are evaluated using a range of procedures including techniques which rely on mean-variance efficiency as well as evaluation procedures which help determine the ability of a strategy to mitigate downside risk. The results of the simulation exercise provide considerable support for the routine buying of at-the-money put options in setting a commodity floor price. The results also support the use, and perhaps the development, of insurance on cooperative throughput if the insurance product is used in conjunction with a price risk management strategy, in essence providing a hedge against downfalls in revenue. Over-the-counter revenue swaps, while intuitively appealing, did not perform well on average relative to more traditional exchange traded products. This result is especially important given the added counter party risk associated with such contracts. However, in some cases, the revenue swap, as well routine hedging with futures, performed better under a Value-at-Risk evaluation criteria than with a mean-variance criteria. Hence, it is important for cooperative managers to consider these results in the context of the risk management goals.Agribusiness,

Hybrid Atom--Photon Quantum Gate in a Superconducting Microwave Resonator

We propose a novel hybrid quantum gate between an atom and a microwave photon in a superconducting coplanar waveguide cavity by exploiting the strong resonant microwave coupling between adjacent Rydberg states. Using experimentally achievable parameters gate fidelities $> 0.99$ are possible on sub-$\mu$s timescales for waveguide temperatures below 40 mK. This provides a mechanism for generating entanglement between two disparate quantum systems and represents an important step in the creation of a hybrid quantum interface applicable for both quantum simulation and quantum information processing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Low x saturation at HERA ?

We compare the predictions of two distinct dipole models for inclusive and exclusive diffractive processes. While only one of these dipole models contains perturbative saturation dynamics, we show that the predictions of both models are fully consistent with the available HERA data, indicating no compelling evidence for saturation at present HERA energies.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, presented at the 26th Montreal-Rochester-Syracuse-Toronto (MRST) conference held at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, 12th-14th May 2004. To appear in the proceeding

Cancer immunology and canine malignant melanoma: a comparative review

Oral canine malignant melanoma (CMM) is a spontaneously occurring aggressive tumour with relatively few medical treatment options, which provides a suitable model for the disease in humans. Historically, multiple immunotherapeutic strategies aimed at provoking both innate and adaptive anti-tumour immune responses have been published with varying levels of activity against CMM. Recently, a plasmid DNA vaccine expressing human tyrosinase has been licensed for the adjunct treatment of oral CMM. This article reviews the immunological similarities between CMM and the human counterpart; mechanisms by which tumours evade the immune system; reasons why melanoma is an attractive target for immunotherapy; the premise of whole cell, dendritic cell (DC), viral and DNA vaccination strategies alongside preliminary clinical results in dogs. Current “gold standard” treatments for advanced human malignant melanoma are evolving quickly with remarkable results being achieved following the introduction of immune checkpoint blockade and adoptively transferred cell therapies. The rapidly expanding field of cancer immunology and immunotherapeutics means that rational targeting of this disease in both species should enhance treatment outcomes in veterinary and human clinics

Differences in the epidemiology of theileriosis on smallholder dairy farms in contrasting agro-ecological and grazing strata of highland Kenya

A prospective cohort study was conducted in five purposively-sampled agro-ecological zone (AEZ)-grazing system strata in Murang’a District, Kenya, between March 1995 and June 1996. The study strata were selected based on a preliminary characterization study to represent the widest range of risks to East Coast fever (ECF) in the District and included zero-grazing and open-grazing farms. In total, 225 calves from 188 smallholder farms were examined from birth to 6 months of age and visited within the first 2 weeks of life and thereafter at bi-weekly intervals for up to 14 visits. The purpose of the study was to characterize the differences in epidemiology (risks of infection, morbidity and mortality) and potential control of ECF between the selected strata. Evidence of Theileria parva infection was assessed by increased antibody levels as measured in an indirect ELISA assay by the percent positivity (PP) of serum samples relative to a strong positive reference serum. Sero-conversion risks of T. parva were highest in the open-grazing strata. Antibody prevalence in adult cattle and ECF morbidity and mortality risks were also highest in open-grazing strata. While different, all five AEZ-grazing strata were considered to be endemically unstable for ECF. East Coast fever challenge was low in all zero-grazing strata and this challenge is likely to remain low due to continuing intensification of smallholder farming in the central highlands. In the open-grazing strata, there was higher challenge and a greater impact of ECF. ILRI publication no.: 99017