Pesticide Use on Fruit and Vegetable Crops in Ohio 1990

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Bertrand Oligopoly And Factors Markets With Scarcity And Price Controls

In an earlier article, we reported the results of a classroom experiment simulating price competition in an oligopoly with differentiated goods. That study raised some questions that we were unable to address at that time. For this current study, we have adapted the experiment to further explore the effects of scarcity in the input markets, and to study the effects of price controls in these markets. We find that scarcity in an input market has the expected directional effect on prices in both input and output markets, but not necessarily the magnitude expected; we further find that price controls have only some of the effects expected. In the current experiment, we increased the number of rounds of the game to allow more opportunity for convergence to a stable outcome, and to allow for three distinct phases of the game: initial rounds in which inputs were abundantly available, subsequent rounds in which one input’s supply was dramatically reduced, and final rounds in which a price floor was established on the one input which remained abundant. As expected, firms played Nash/Bertrand strategies in the early rounds. However, the shock caused by reducing the availability of capital took many rounds for full adjustment, with both output prices and the equilibrium rental rate of capital rising consistently and gradually toward their projected equilibria over ten rounds, although even then capital prices did not rise enough to absorb all firm profits. Surprisingly, establishing a minimum wage did not have the anticipated effect of balancing payments between labor and capital; instead, the minimum wage completely disrupted the trend of an increasing rental price of capital and reduced it to zero, while creating volatility in profits without consistently eliminating them. Overall, we find that most of our anticipated results ultimately obtain, but adjustments to variations in market conditions are neither immediate nor perfectly consistent with the predictions of theory

Experiments In Bertrand Competition With Factor Markets

We present a classroom experiment which introduces product differentiation and factor markets into the traditional Bertrand framework.  We find that student behavior converges toward the market outcomes predicted by theory.  We also find that the experiment enhances student understanding of Bertrand price competition in a market with product differentiation and factor markets, and also appears to increase student satisfaction

Successfully Inter-seeding Legumes into Existing Cool-Season Pastures

This fact sheet provides research based guidance on the most effective way to inter-seed legumes into existing pasture which will create a more sustainable grazing system

The measurement of response shift in patients with advanced prostate cancer and their partners

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence to support the phenomenon of response shift (RS) in quality of life (QoL) studies, with many current QoL measures failing to allow for this. If significant response shift occurs amongst prostate cancer patients, it will be necessary to allow for this in the design of future clinical research and to reassess the conclusions of previous studies that have not allowed for this source of bias. This study therefore aimed to assess the presence of RS and psychosocial morbidity in patients with advanced prostate cancer and their partners. METHODS: 55 consecutive advanced prostate cancer patients and their partners completed the Prostate Cancer Patient & Partner questionnaire (PPP), shortly after diagnosis and again at 3 months and 6 months. At the follow-up visits, both patients and partners also completed a then-test in order to assess RS. RESULTS: Partners consistently showed greater psychological morbidity than patients in relation to the prostate cancer. This was most marked on the General Cancer Distress (GCD) subscale (p < 0.001, paired t-test), and regarding worries about treatment (p = 0.01). Significant RS was identified in partners and patients by the use of the then-test technique, particularly on the GCD subscale, the concerns about treatment and the concerns about urinary symptoms items. CONCLUSION: These results suggest the presence of RS in patients with advanced prostate cancer and their partners, with higher levels of psychosocial morbidity noted amongst partners. This is the first study to identify RS in partners and calls into question the interpretation of all studies assessing changes in QoL that fail to allow for this phenomenon

Management of the Acute Scrotum in a District General Hospital: 10-Year Experience

The acutely painful scrotum is a common urologic emergency. The primary objective of management is to avoid testicular loss. This requires a high index of clinical suspicion and prompt surgical intervention. In our series conducted between January 1996 and December 2005, 119 patients (age range: 4–62 years) underwent emergency operative exploration for acute scrotal pain. The most common finding was torted cyst of Morgagni (63/119, 52.9%), followed by testicular torsion (41/119, 34.4%). The majority of testicular torsions occurred in the pubertal group (22/41, 53.6%). Only one patient in this group had an unsalvageable testis necessitating orchidectomy, a testicular loss rate in torsion of 2.4%. There were no postoperative wound infections or scrotal haematomas. Testicular salvage depends critically on early surgical intervention, so the delay incurred in diagnostic imaging may extend the period of ischaemia. Furthermore, all radiological investigations have a certain false-negative rate. We advocate immediate surgical exploration of the acute scrotum. We report a low orchidectomy rate (2.4%) in testicular torsion

Phased Array Feed Calibration, Beamforming and Imaging

Phased array feeds (PAFs) for reflector antennas offer the potential for increased reflector field of view and faster survey speeds. To address some of the development challenges that remain for scientifically useful PAFs, including calibration and beamforming algorithms, sensitivity optimization, and demonstration of wide field of view imaging, we report experimental results from a 19 element room temperature L-band PAF mounted on the Green Bank 20-Meter Telescope. Formed beams achieved an aperture efficiency of 69% and system noise temperature of 66 K. Radio camera images of several sky regions are presented. We investigate the noise performance and sensitivity of the system as a function of elevation angle with statistically optimal beamforming and demonstrate cancelation of radio frequency interference sources with adaptive spatial filtering.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figure

Ethanol Induced Disordering of Pancreatic Acinar Cell Endoplasmic Reticulum: An ER Stress/Defective Unfolded Protein Response Model.

Background &amp; aimsHeavy alcohol drinking is associated with pancreatitis, whereas moderate intake lowers the risk. Mice fed ethanol long term show no pancreas damage unless adaptive/protective responses mediating proteostasis are disrupted. Pancreatic acini synthesize digestive enzymes (largely serine hydrolases) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), where perturbations (eg, alcohol consumption) activate adaptive unfolded protein responses orchestrated by spliced X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1). Here, we examined ethanol-induced early structural changes in pancreatic ER proteins.MethodsWild-type and Xbp1+/- mice were fed control and ethanol diets, then tissues were homogenized and fractionated. ER proteins were labeled with a cysteine-reactive probe, isotope-coded affinity tag to obtain a novel pancreatic redox ER proteome. Specific labeling of active serine hydrolases in ER with fluorophosphonate desthiobiotin also was characterized proteomically. Protein structural perturbation by redox changes was evaluated further in molecular dynamic simulations.ResultsEthanol feeding and Xbp1 genetic inhibition altered ER redox balance and destabilized key proteins. Proteomic data and molecular dynamic simulations of Carboxyl ester lipase (Cel), a unique serine hydrolase active within ER, showed an uncoupled disulfide bond involving Cel Cys266, Cel dimerization, ER retention, and complex formation in ethanol-fed, XBP1-deficient mice.ConclusionsResults documented in ethanol-fed mice lacking sufficient spliced XBP1 illustrate consequences of ER stress extended by preventing unfolded protein response from fully restoring pancreatic acinar cell proteostasis during ethanol-induced redox challenge. In this model, orderly protein folding and transport to the secretory pathway were disrupted, and abundant molecules including Cel with perturbed structures were retained in ER, promoting ER stress-related pancreas pathology