Determining the Feasibility of Yellow Corn Production in Mexico

Mexico produces large quantities of white corn for human consumption. Yellow corn production, mostly used for feed, has increased lately. Driving factors include higher domestic demand (growing livestock industry) and greater international demand (ethanol industry). This study uses enterprise budgeting to determine the feasibility of producing yellow corn in Mexico.Yellow corn, White corn, Mexico, Production Economics,

WHY DOES KANT THINK THAT MORAL REQUIREMENTS ARE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVES?

In this paper I put forth three criticisms against McDowell account of the idea that moral requirements are categorical imperatives. I argue that McDowell’s account fails as a defense of Kant’s doctrine for at least three reasons. First, McDowell claims that agents can appeal to experience in order to formulate and recognize categorical imperatives. However, Kant strongly disagrees with this claim, explicitly claiming that moral requirements cannot be derived from experience. Second, McDowell argues that the virtuous agent will not experience inner conflict when motivating herself to act virtuously, but inner conflict plays a central role in Kant’s picture of moral motivation and virtue. Third, McDowell does not account for how the moral law serves as a necessary incentive to moral action through the a priori feeling of respect. Finally, I suggest that my criticisms cast doubt on the validity of McDowell’s account, and provide insights into some criteria that an account must meet if it is to be a proper defense of Kant’s doctrine of moral requirements as categorical imperatives

An Ambulance Made of Whiskey

An Ambulance Made of Whiskey is the story of Sven, a famous writer who loses his inspiration. He becomes a target of bullying by his fans and falls into a deep depression, shutting himself off completely from the public and from his family. He tries to commit suicide several times with no success. Suddenly, after overdosing on a mixture of drugs, he enters into a surreal world in which he is confronted with his own death. While he is hallucinating, he is traveling in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. This affects his perception, mixing with the parallel world that he is experiencing. In the ambulance is Martina, an EMT who is concerned about Sven and who desperately tries to keep him awake while en route to the hospital. Sven, knowing that this might be his last night on earth, tries to bond with Martina, but she is focused on doing her job. This experience makes Sven realize that he might not want to die, and that there are many things that he has not yet tried. As a defense mechanism, his brain creates an alternative reality which allows him to experience the different stages of a possible relationship with Martina, but in this reality, Martina is just a mechanical and lifeless character that shows no more than a superficial connection. Soon, Sven finds out that he can’t get beyond the first date, making him realize that the answer to fulfilling his desires is not in this relationship. The more he understands, the deeper he falls into another reality in which he finds Miss Captain Coffee Nirvana, his conscience, his inner voice or God for those who are religious. Miss Captain Coffee Nirvana has the attitude of a nurturing and loving mother who doesn’t have all the answers to everything, but can guide because she knows what is the best for Sven. After talking to her, Sven realizes that the answer to everything that he is looking for is in himself, and the decision of whether to die or not is his and his alone. After a very hard night, Sven wakes up in the hospital feeling very confused. When Martina, the EMT, comes into his room, he apologizes to her. She gives him a notebook to encourage him to return to his career path. This notebook ends up as the source of his notes for his new book, An Ambulance Made of Whiskey

Effect Of Carvacrol-Loaded Nanoemulsions On A Bioluminescent Strain Of Escherichia Coli O157:H7

Nanoemulsions have been shown to be effective delivery vehicles for poorly water soluble natural antimicrobials. In this study the antimicrobial activity of carvacrol (5-isopropyl-2-methylphenol) nanoemulsions against a bioluminescent Escherichia coli O157:H7 was investigated using light emission as an indicator of cell viability. Different emulsifiers (Ultralec Lecithin and Tween 20), oils (Palm stearin and Coconut oil) and various carvacrol concentrations (0, 1, 2 and 2.5%) were evaluated. Bioluminescence was monitored in situ using a Hamamatsu (photo multiplier tube) sensor module integrated with a Programmable Logic Controller interfaced with a PC for data acquisition. Bioluminescence decreased rapidly with the addition of emulsions containing increasing concentrations of carvacrol (250ppm-1000ppm). However when cells were assayed for viability, plate counts showed there was not a correlation of bioluminescence to cell inactivation. Bioluminescence was able to recover after the removal of carvacrol from the surrounding media. The same bioluminescent pattern was also observed with sub lethal doses of the oxidative uncoupler 2,4-dinitrophenol and the supplementary addition of the luciferase reaction substrate recovered the light emission in presence of carvacrol. These results suggest that carvacrol and 2,4-DNP uncouple oxidative phosphorylation reducing the ATP available for the biosynthesis of the aldehyde substrate. Previous reports suggested the mechanism of inactivation of carvacrol was membrane damage resulting in loss of cellular contents and viability. However the results of this work suggest that the mechanism of carvacrol inactivation is due to the uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation

Emergence of switch-like behavior in a large family of simple biochemical networks

Bistability plays a central role in the gene regulatory networks (GRNs) controlling many essential biological functions, including cellular differentiation and cell cycle control. However, establishing the network topologies that can exhibit bistability remains a challenge, in part due to the exceedingly large variety of GRNs that exist for even a small number of components. We begin to address this problem by employing chemical reaction network theory in a comprehensive in silico survey to determine the capacity for bistability of more than 40,000 simple networks that can be formed by two transcription factor-coding genes and their associated proteins (assuming only the most elementary biochemical processes). We find that there exist reaction rate constants leading to bistability in ~90% of these GRN models, including several circuits that do not contain any of the TF cooperativity commonly associated with bistable systems, and the majority of which could only be identified as bistable through an original subnetwork-based analysis. A topological sorting of the two-gene family of networks based on the presence or absence of biochemical reactions reveals eleven minimal bistable networks (i.e., bistable networks that do not contain within them a smaller bistable subnetwork). The large number of previously unknown bistable network topologies suggests that the capacity for switch-like behavior in GRNs arises with relative ease and is not easily lost through network evolution. To highlight the relevance of the systematic application of CRNT to bistable network identification in real biological systems, we integrated publicly available protein-protein interaction, protein-DNA interaction, and gene expression data from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and identified several GRNs predicted to behave in a bistable fashion.Comment: accepted to PLoS Computational Biolog

Community Knowledge of Landslides and Perceptions of Aid Relief: A Qualitative Investigation in Rural Uganda

Climate related disasters such as landslides continue to contribute to premature mortality and underdevelopment in many regions in less-developed nations like the Bududa District in Uganda (e.g. Roberts and Thanos 2003; UNDP 2004, 2014; UNISDR 2001, 2008, 2012, 2014). This study utilizes 19 semi-structured interviews, three of which were in the form of focus groups, to investigate the conceptions of the causes and effects of landslides, with an emphasis on aid relief and perceived needs. In doing so, this study highlights the incongruousness and inadequacy of aid in meeting the needs of community members. Not only do community members provide prescriptions for improving aid relief, they do so with a wealth of knowledge about the signs, causes, and effects of landslides, and the economic situations that hinder poor nations like Uganda and its populations from living safe and secure lives. This study contributes to literature on micro and macro connections of community-based knowledge and global political economic decisions and their effects on disaster management and disease and injury prevention

Social dynamics among mule deer and how they visit various environmental areas: implications for chronic wasting disease transmission

This dissertation analyzes sociality patterns of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and how they visit different localized environmental areas, two epidemiologically relevant sources of variability in chronic wasting disease (CWD) transmission dynamics. This dissertation seeks to answer questions such as what are the seasonal patterns of mule deer group formation and size, what factors can predict close-distance proximity and physical contacts between individuals, and in which environmental areas are different sex and age classes of deer found throughout the year. These questions are of great relevance in the study of a disease that efficiently transmits through animal-animal contact and prion contaminated environments. Mule deer in Antelope Creek, a CWD endemic area in Saskatchewan, Canada, have been studied since 2006. I used genetic, behavioural, camera-trap, and high-resolution and high-frequency radio-telemetry data to address these questions. First, we learned that when mule deer showed clinical signs of the disease they were less likely to be reported in groups. Second, males were more likely to be found in close-distance proximity with other males in pre-rut, and with females in rut. Also, females tended to have more stable and longer lasting relationships with any other females than with males, whereas male-male relationships tended to be ephemeral. Third, individuals grouped more often with their close relatives, but the latter were not more likely to physically contact each other within groups. Lastly, grain spills were the sites most visited by deer and where they contacted the environment most often with either their mouths and antlers, or by defecating and urinating. Hence, grain spills could be of great importance for disease control, as they can be modified to reduce mule deer congregation, environmental prion contamination and transmission. This dissertation describes several features of mule deer social behaviour, which advances our understanding of their sociobiology. These findings provide insight into how CWD may be transmitted in wild cervids and will be useful in the further development of spatially- and behaviourally-explicit dynamic epidemiological models to guide CWD management strategies

Understanding intrinsic hematopoietic stem cell aging

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) sustain blood production over the entire life-span of an organism. It is of extreme importance that these cells maintain self-renewal and differentiation potential over time in order to preserve homeostasis of the hematopoietic system. Many of the intrinsic aspects of HSC are affected by the aging process resulting in a deterioration in their potential, independently of their microenvironment. Here we review recent findings characterizing most of the intrinsic aspects of aged HSC, ranging from phenotypic to molecular alterations. Historically, DNA damage was thought to be the main cause of HSC aging. However, over recent years, many new findings have defined an increasing number of biological processes that intrinsically change with age in HSC. Epigenetics and chromatin architecture, together with autophagy, proteostasis and metabolic changes, and how they are interconnected, are acquiring growing importance for understanding the intrinsic aging of stem cells. Given the increase in populations of older subjects worldwide, and considering that aging is the primary risk factor for most diseases, understanding HSC aging becomes particularly relevant also in the context of hematologic disorders, such as myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia. Research on intrinsic mechanisms responsible for HSC aging is providing, and will continue to provide, new potential molecular targets to possibly ameliorate or delay aging of the hematopoietic system and consequently improve the outcome of hematologic disorders in the elderly. The niche-dependent contributions to hematopoietic aging are discussed in another review in this same issue of the Journal

Normas Internacionales de Auditoria : Aplicación de los criterios establecidos en la NIA 265, en la evaluación del control interno y la comunicación de las definiciones a la administración en la ferreteria Amador,S.A. correspondiente al periodo 2016

Las Normas Internacionales de Auditoria (NIA), son principios básicos dentro del proceso de una auditoria, estas son formuladas y promulgadas por el “Consejo de Normas Internacionales de Auditoria y Aseguramiento (IAASB), este es un comité permanente que pertenece al Consejo de federación Internacional de Contadores (IFAC). Se debe enmarcar el propósito y desempeño de los auditores durante el proceso de auditoría el cual busca obtener evidencia de auditoría suficiente y adecuada.Las Normas Internacionales de Auditoría tienen como objetivos, asegurar que los auditores estén usando principios generales armonizados cuando están tratando con compañías y transacciones ofreciendo una consistente credibilidad que facilite la toma de decisiones y contribuya al mejor funcionamiento de las empresas con capitales eficientes. Se realizó un estudio sobre la NIA 265 comunicación de deficiencias del control interno al gobierno corporativo en el cual en base a dicha norma planteamos un caso práctico en el que se establece como llevar a la práctica lo indicado por la misma, y de esta forma enriquecer los conocimientos así como aportando ideas a los estudiantes y personas que quieran conocer y estudiar la información que proporciona la NIA 265

Difficulties in the application of the speaking strategies in the new curricular transformation in 11th grade students at Pablo Antonio Cuadra Institute, Esquipulas, during the second semester 2010

This research studies the difficulties in the application of the speaking strategies in the new curricular transformation in 11th grade students at Pablo Antonio Cuadra Institute, during the second semester 2010 in Esquipulas city. Its purpose is to analyze the difficulties that exist in the application of the speaking strategies in new curriculum, especially in 11th grade students from this Institute. Speaking is important for learners, because the spoken language is the heart of much human interaction, at home, at work, and in the society; furthermore, English is the universal language; so it is important in all contexts in which learning takes place. The approach of the new curricular transformation is communicative approach and the fundamental purpose is to support the pedagogical labor, making the dedicate planning easy for obtaining successful results in the classroom, taking into account the teacher´s experience, students´characteristics and didactic resources. Actually it is not easy to keep a total control when there are forty or more students in a classroom, because it is difficult to catch the attention to all of them when a specific group distracts to other, and the teacher can not give individual attention, besides they are afraid to speak English, but the motivation is the key to make students able to speak English. Another of the biggest problem in Nicaraguan learners is the lack of practice speaking, because all the time students are speaking their native language, and they never have the chance to speak English and improve it. For that reason it is important to apply speaking strategies that help students to develop their speaking skil