Dairying and whole-farm economics of crop-livestock farming systems - comparing arid and irrigated districts of Punjab, Pakistan

Dairying is an important component of Pakistan’s mixed crop-livestock farming systems. The national economy engages some 8.8 million small-scale producer households. The country produces more milk than any other except for the United States and India. Yet little is known about small-scale producer microeconomics to inform policy development for improving their welfare. In this paper we aim to identify the whole farm profitability of small agricultural households, with a specific focus on milk production. We compare two contrasting agro-ecological regions within Pakistan’s Punjab (irrigated Okara and rain-fed Bhakkar) using results for a single 2008-09 fiscal year of production for 212 farms. Net farm profits, taking long-run opportunity costs of labour and capital into account, showed only 10 per cent of these farms to be profitable in either district, though short-run profits, accounting for cash costs only, showed positive whole farm gross margins for 90 per cent and 80 per cent of farms in Okara and Bhakkar, respectively. The returns on assets (at 2.78 per cent and 0.53 per cent for the two districts) was lower than the national average return on savings (9 per cent). For dairy enterprises, total costs were higher than incomes; so many farms (70 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively) were assessed as making losses. Given the low opportunity costs of feeds (often crop residues) and of labour (6.2 per cent unemployment) and the high rate of inflation (11.8 per cent), returns on factors of production including labour and capital, may not be lower than international standards. There is a need, however, to raise the dairy industry’s overall productivity to make dairying viable; and to identify an optimal land and livestock combination that is profitable and commercially viable

Comprehensive Pulmonary Safety Review of Inhaled Technosphere® Insulin in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Background and Objective: Technosphere® Insulin (TI), a human insulin powder for inhalation (Afrezza®; MannKind Corporation, Westlake Village, CA, USA), is an ultra-rapid-acting inhaled insulin indicated to improve postprandial glycemic control in patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T1DM or T2DM). Because TI is absorbed across the alveolar membrane, the objective of this analysis was to characterize its pulmonary safety. Methods: Pooled data from 13 phase 2/3 clinical studies in 5505 patients with T1DM or T2DM treated with TI, Technosphere inhalation powder without insulin (TP; placebo), or active-comparator treatment were analyzed for incidences of respiratory treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs), changes in pulmonary function, and lung malignancies. Radiographic changes in the lungs were monitored in a subset of 229 patients. Results: Among 3017 patients receiving TI, the median duration of TI exposure was 168 days; median active-comparator and TP exposure durations were 363 and 149 days for 2198 and 290 patients, respectively. Respiratory TEAEs were comparable across treatments, except for a higher incidence of mild cough with TI in active-comparator studies (28.0% vs. 5.2%). Slight reversible declines in pulmonary function from baseline were observed for TI versus TP and active-comparator treatments, including in a subpopulation of patients with retrospectively identified lung dysfunction. Lung malignancies were reported in two patients on active TI therapy with a smoking history. No clinically significant changes from baseline were observed in radiographic images. Conclusions: Pulmonary safety assessment of the TI inhalation system did not identify any safety issues in individuals with either T1DM or T2DM

Explosive volcanic activity on Venus: The roles of volatile contribution, degassing, and external environment

We investigate the conditions that will promote explosive volcanic activity on Venus. Conduit processes were simulated using a steady-state, isothermal, homogeneous flow model in tandem with a degassing model. The response of exit pressure, exit velocity, and degree of volatile exsolution was explored over a range of volatile concentrations (H2O and CO2), magma temperatures, vent altitudes, and conduit geometries relevant to the Venusian environment. We find that the addition of CO2 to an H2O-driven eruption increases the final pressure, velocity, and volume fraction gas. Increasing vent elevation leads to a greater degree of magma fragmentation, due to the decrease in the final pressure at the vent, resulting in a greater likelihood of explosive activity. Increasing the magmatic temperature generates higher final pressures, greater velocities, and lower final volume fraction gas values with a correspondingly lower chance of explosive volcanism. Cross-sectionally smaller, and/or deeper, conduits were more conducive to explosive activity. Model runs show that for an explosive eruption to occur at Scathach Fluctus, at Venus’ mean planetary radius (MPR), 4.5% H2O or 3% H2O with 3% CO2 (from a 25 m radius conduit) would be required to initiate fragmentation; at Ma’at Mons (~9 km above MPR) only ~2% H2O is required. A buoyant plume model was used to investigate plume behaviour. It was found that it was not possible to achieve a buoyant column from a 25 m radius conduit at Scathach Fluctus, but a buoyant column reaching up to ~20 km above the vent could be generated at Ma’at Mons with an H2O concentration of 4.7% (at 1300 K) or a mixed volatile concentration of 3% H2O with 3% CO2 (at 1200 K). We also estimate the flux of volcanic gases to the lower atmosphere of Venus, should explosive volcanism occur. Model results suggest explosive activity at Scathach Fluctus would result in an H2O flux of ~107 kg s-1. Were Scathach Fluctus emplaced in a single event, our model suggests that it may have been emplaced in a period of ~15 days, supplying 1-2 x 104 Mt H2O to the atmosphere locally. An eruption of this scale might increase local atmospheric H2O abundance by several ppm over an area large enough to be detectable by near-infrared nightside sounding using the 1.18 µm spectral window such as that carried out by the Venus Express/VIRTIS spectrometer. Further interrogation of the VIRTIS dataset is recommended to search for ongoing volcanism on Venus

Test beam performance measurements for the Phase I upgrade of the CMS pixel detector

A new pixel detector for the CMS experiment was built in order to cope with the instantaneous luminosities anticipated for the Phase I Upgrade of the LHC. The new CMS pixel detector provides four-hit tracking with a reduced material budget as well as new cooling and powering schemes. A new front-end readout chip mitigates buffering and bandwidth limitations, and allows operation at low comparator thresholds. In this paper, comprehensive test beam studies are presented, which have been conducted to verify the design and to quantify the performance of the new detector assemblies in terms of tracking efficiency and spatial resolution. Under optimal conditions, the tracking efficiency is (99.95 ± 0.05) %, while the intrinsic spatial resolutions are (4.80 ± 0.25) μm and (7.99 ± 0.21) μm along the 100 μm and 150 μm pixel pitch, respectively. The findings are compared to a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the pixel detector and good agreement is found.Peer reviewe

The emergence of eLiteracy: enhancing our understanding

Presentation focusing on the factors influencing the growth of eLiteracy strategies

Product positioning in global primary care

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:Vf99/5176 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Biophysical and biochemical changes occur in Nephrops norvegicus during starvation

The nutritional status of an animal is maintained through a balance between energy intake and energy expenditure, and in the natural environment can fluctuate due to limited food availability and behavioural changes that remove the animal from its food. The integrated physiological processes that underlie an animal's nutritional status can be measured biophysically or biochemically. The Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus has been shown to survive long periods of time without food, which is advantageous when food availability is low, such as during the winter months or when access to food is reduced due to risks associated with predation. In this study N. norvegicus was subjected to nutritional stress (starvation) for a period of 20 weeks and various biophysical measures (hepatosomatic index [HSI], length: weight ratio, tissue water content, carbon: nitrogen ratio) and biochemical measures (copper, carbohydrate, lipids, protein, stable isotopes δ15N δ13C) were used to determine how these animals maintain themselves over this period of forced starvation. Results indicate that while there was no variation in the whole weight of each individual, the organ-specific weight of the hepatopancreas (HSI) decreased and there was a corresponding increase in the water content of the hepatopancreas (and tail muscle). In contrast to the findings of previous studies, reserves of lipids decreased within the hepatopancreas. Fuel resources of protein from the tail muscle were not utilised, but reciprocal change in the copper content of the haemolymph to the hepatopancreas is suggestive of a breakdown of haemocyanin. The results provide an initial indication of how N. norvegicus can survive for long periods of time without food, and identify some potential biomarkers for starvation that can be applied to animals caught from the field

Strategic test-day recording regimes to estimate lactation yield in tropical dairy animals

Background In developing dairy sectors, genetic improvement programs have limited resources and recording of herds is minimal. This study evaluated different methods to estimate lactation yield and sampling schedules with fewer test-day records per lactation to determine recording regimes that (1) estimate lactation yield with a minimal impact on the accuracy of selection and (2) optimise the available resources. Methods Using Sahiwal cattle as a tropical dairy breed example, weekly milk records from 464 cows were used in a simulation study to generate different shaped lactation curves. The daily milk yields from these simulated lactation curves were subset to equally spaced (weekly, monthly and quarterly) and unequally spaced (with four, five or six records per lactation) test-day intervals. Lactation yield estimates were calculated from these subsets using two methods: the test-interval method and Wood’s (Nature 216:164-165, 1967) lactation curve model. Using the resulting lactation yields, breeding values were predicted and comparisons were made between the sampling regimes and estimation methods. Results The results show that, based on the mean square error of prediction, use of Wood’s lactation curve model to estimate total yield was more accurate than use of the test-interval method. However, the differences in the ranking of animals were small, i.e. a 1 to 5% difference in accuracy. Comparisons between the different test-day sampling regimes showed that, with the same number of records per lactation (for example, quarterly and four test-days), strategically timed test-days can result in more accurate estimates of lactation yield than test-days at equal intervals. Conclusions An important outcome of these results is that combining Wood’s model for lactation yield estimation and as few as four, five or six strategically placed test-day records can produce estimates of lactation yield that are comparable with estimates based on monthly test-day records using the test-interval method. Furthermore, calculations show that although using fewer test-days results in a decrease in the accuracy of selection, it does provide an opportunity to progeny-test more sires. Thus, using strategically timed test-days and Wood’s model to estimate lactation yield, can lead to a more efficient use of the allocated resources