MALAYSIAN RICE TRADE AND GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS

Malaysia’s rice sector is highly protected, with the protection justified largely by arguments for food security. The government intervenes in the rice market by providing subsidies to farmers and consumers as well as imposing high import duties. Furthermore, the rice trade is controlled through a sole importer. In this paper, the welfare effects of eliminating the major government interventions in Malaysia’s rice sector are evaluated. A modified spatial price equilibrium model that incorporates a sole importer with a fixed domestic price has been developed to measure the welfare impacts of the market distortions. Four scenarios were developed: (1) removal of the sole importer but continuation of the subsidies and existing tariffs; (2) removal of the subsidies but with the existence of the sole importer; (3) imposition of tariff and (4) free trade. Large net welfare gains and a significant reduction in government expenditures are likely if all forms of government interventions were to be eliminated and a free market allowed.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

DEMAND FOR DIFFERENTIATED VEGETABLES

To obtain a healthier diet, Americans need to consume not only more vegetables, but also a healthier mix of vegetables. Household demands for eight categories of vegetables are investigated, using ACNielsen's Homescan data. A maximum simulated likelihood estimation procedure results in elasticity estimates which are somewhat larger than those obtained from both time-series and cross-section data in the literature. Even these larger elasticities are not large enough to bridge the dietary consumption gap without, and possibly even with, substantial price or food expenditure subsidies. Furthermore, Homescan data do indicate some significant differences in preferences for types of vegetables by household characteristics, such as race and ethnicity. This information could be used in designing more effective public interventions for boosting vegetable consumption in the United States.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Carbon Dioxide Sequestration to form Calcium Carbonate Nanoparticles

The emission of carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels is one of the leading sources of global warming. Reducing the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere through carbon sequestration can mitigate this problem. One method of carbon sequestration is the use of a carbon dioxide scrubber. Once captured, CO2 can be used to create a valuable chemical commodity such as calcium carbonate nanoparticles. To create CaCO3 particles in the 50-100 nanometer range, a chemical additive is necessary to limit particle size. The study used a laboratory scale carbon dioxide scrubber to react CO2 with calcium chloride and OH- ions to form calcium carbonate nanoparticles. Varying CaCl2 concentrations were tested as well as two chemical additives (AOT and PEG) in varying amounts. The resulting CaCO3 nanoparticles were analyzed to determine average particle size using dynamic light scattering. The study confirmed that the scrubber process effectively reduced CO2 released from the system. In general, larger quantities of additive led to smaller particles, but while AOT and PEG both limit CaCO3 particle size, AOT was the most effective. Unexpected results showed that larger concentrations of CaCl2 reduce the formation of bubble build-up in the reactor. Future work can be done to explore this effect of CaCl2 on sud formation by monitoring and recording bubble levels during the reaction

The Kinetics of a Palladium Precursor – Tobacco Mosaic Virus Reaction

There have been numerous developments in the field of production of metallic nanoparticles using biotemplates such as the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV). Past research has looked at the conditions required to maximise nanoparticle formation. This study of the kinetics of a nanomaterial synthesis reaction using a biotemplate would elucidate the understanding of the controlled growth of nanoparticles, which can be applied in the fabrication of photocatalysts, electrical nanocircuits and solar cells. This study specifically focuses on the reaction between a palladium precursor and the TMV without an external reducing agent, where the palladium ion concentration is measured over time using UV-Visible, Atomic Absorption and X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy methods. The results from these experiments allow us to compare the trends and variations of the palladium ion concentration over time. We found that the results using UV-Visible Spectroscopy did not verify those using X-Ray Absorption methods which signals that there are likely to be flaws in the UV-Visible methods that need further analysis in order to be resolved. Atomic Absorption was used to gauge the impact of external particles in the reaction solution on absorbance; however the faulty hollow cathode lamp on the spectrophotometer limited its effectiveness. These findings are significant in that they are a step into the study of the effectiveness of different spectroscopy methods to measure concentration. This would pave the way for obtaining more information about the general kinetics of reactions between metals and viruses, and thus allow us to fabricate nanoparticles in a controlled manner

Poster 274: Revision Surgery after Plasma Disk Decompression for Treatment of Symptomatic Lumbar Intervertebral Disk Herniations

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146978/1/pmr2s223.pd

Particle Deposition of Silica and Polystyrene during Drop Evaporation

In various industries, such as creating pigments, ceramics, emulsifiers, and catalysis, having silica particles that have a small size distribution, or are monodisperse, are important. In these products, particles with higher mono-dispersity lead to higher quality products. The problem with forming silica particles of a certain size is determining how the reagents and the alcohol solvent affect the particle size and size distribution. Concentrations of ammonia and water were varied, as well as the type of alcohol solvent. Analysis on the particle size and distribution was conducted through dynamic light scattering. After analysis, silica particles were centrifuged and then suspended in de-ionized water. As the concentration of ammonia increased, and as the alcohol solvent had a larger ethanol to methanol ratio, the particles’ size increased. The effect of the water concentration on the silica particles showed varied results. The silica particles synthesized were then used for drop-drying experiments. In the pharmaceutical industry, an efficient method for creating oral dosage strips and tablets is through drop-printing of drug suspensions. Drop-on-demand printing allows for controllable deposition of active pharmaceutical ingredients. For drop-printing, the problem is to find how to print the active ingredient evenly distributed on the substrate. Polystyrene particles were added to a suspension of the silica nanoparticles and drop-drying experiments were conducted. For the drop-drying experiments, the smaller silica particles deposited closer to the contact line than the larger polystyrene particles

Discovery of a Variable Star Population in NGC 2808

We have applied the image subtraction method to images of the peculiar, bimodal-horizontal branch globular cluster NGC 2808, taken over a total of six nights over a range of five months. As a result, we have found, for the first time, a sizeable population of variable stars in the crowded inner regions of the cluster, thus raising the known RR Lyrae population in the cluster to a total of 18 stars. In addition, an eclipsing binary and two other variables with periods longer than 1 day were also found. Periods, positions and (differential) light curves are provided for all the detected variables. The Oosterhoff classification of NGC 2808, which has recently been associated with a previously unknown dwarf galaxy in Canis Major, is briefly discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. A&A, in pres

The Discovery of Cometary Activity in Near-Earth Asteroid (3552) Don Quixote

The near-Earth object (NEO) population, which mainly consists of fragments from collisions between asteroids in the main asteroid belt, is thought to include contributions from short-period comets as well. One of the most promising NEO candidates for a cometary origin is near-Earth asteroid (3552) Don Quixote, which has never been reported to show activity. Here we present the discovery of cometary activity in Don Quixote based on thermal-infrared observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope in its 3.6 and 4.5 {\mu}m bands. Our observations clearly show the presence of a coma and a tail in the 4.5 {\mu}m but not in the 3.6 {\mu}m band, which is consistent with molecular band emission from CO2. Thermal modeling of the combined photometric data on Don Quixote reveals a diameter of 18.4 (-0.4/+0.3) km and an albedo of 0.03 (-0.01/+0.02), which confirms Don Quixote to be the third-largest known NEO. We derive an upper limit on the dust production rate of 1.9 kg s^-1 and derive a CO2 gas production rate of (1.1+-0.1)10^26 molecules s^-1. Spitzer IRS spectroscopic observations indicate the presence of fine-grained silicates, perhaps pyroxene rich, on the surface of Don Quixote. Our discovery suggests that CO2 can be present in near-Earth space over a long time. The presence of CO2 might also explain that Don Quixote's cometary nature remained hidden for nearly three decades.Comment: 40 pages, 8 figures, accepted by Ap