THE FEDERAL AGRICULTURE IMPROVEMENT AND REFORM ACT OF 1996: COMMODITY AND CONSERVATION PROGRAMS

The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act contains major revisions in farm commodity programs. This paper summarizes the major provision of legislation. Because many program implementation rules must be developed, program participants are advised to consult their local office of the USDA Farm Service Agency for final program provisions.Agricultural and Food Policy,

A PREVIEW OF THE 1996 FARM PROGRAM PROVISIONS

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have written farm bills that contain major revisions in farm commodity programs. Differences in these bills, House bill HR 2854 and Senate bill S 1541, must now be resolved by a Conference Committee, approved by a final vote of both houses of Congress, and signed by the President. Though differences in the bills do exist, the bills contain many similar provisions that appear likely to be included in the final version of the bill. This paper summarizes the major provisions of these bills and identifies areas where differences must be resolved by the Conference Committee.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Modelo gerencial / productivo andino: una aproximación teórica a la lógica productiva invisibilizada por la cultura occidental

Going through these moments of progress and development, companies are required to review their structures: administrative, economic, financial, relations with the complexity of human resources, among others, in order to evaluate them and verify if they fulfilling their strategies of action and social responsibility. That is, see if your business management model is consistent with the reality of the market. Two situations must face the economic entities as a challenge of their corporate permanence, first, adapt with a new model of management work according to the management of the variables of innovation, transformation and adaptability; and second, to follow conventionally and let their investment process vanish in the onslaught of the maelstrom of businesses that improve their competitiveness in their desire to conquer in the market. Andean philosophy, anthropology, ethics and theology as a compendium of popular wisdom (ancestral knowledge) of the Andean runa (Andean man), underpin a new theoretical construct of how to manage and lead social and productive organizations, which are generated in the field of the education. Pedagogy, andragogy and hodogogy as dynamic elements of this approach consolidate the vision of responsibility between science and wisdom. The principles of Andean science, elevated at the theoretical level and pragmatized in the experience of the peoples solving specific problems of that reality, have allowed identifying efficient working models in the achievement of strategic goals and objectives. Relieving this option of ancestral knowledge or Andean wisdom, is not to position a vision of racial contempt or revenge, to other perspectives of scientific and technological development, but rather so that with synergy work from this concrete possibility of life and scientism western, companies with their management model nurture each other and consolidate a drive to build a competitive advantage thinking about the sustainability of different organizations, which seek to improve the quality of life; in pursuit of continuing to generate, the wealth of a territory, appropriate to a business model, a tool that "determines the way in which a business creates, provides and captures value" (Osterwalder y Pigneur 2012, pág. 14).El transitar por estos momentos de avance y desarrollo, a las empresas se les requiere a hacer una revisión de sus estructuras: administrativas, económicas, financieras, relaciones con la complejidad del recurso humano, entre otros, a fin de evaluarlas y verificar si están cumpliendo sus estrategias de acción y responsabilidad social. Es decir, ver si su modelo de gestión empresarial es coherente con la realidad del mercado. Dos situaciones deben afrontar los entes económicos como desafío de su permanencia corporativa, primero, adaptarse con un nuevo modelo de trabajo de gestión acorde al manejo de las variables de innovación, transformación y adaptabilidad; y segundo, seguir convencionalmente y dejar que su proceso de inversión se desvanezca en la arremetida de la vorágine de los negocios de aquellas que mejoran su competitividad en su afán de conquista en el mercado. La filosofía, la antropología, la ética y teologías andinas como compendio de sabiduría popular (saber ancestral) del runa andino (hombre andino), apuntalan un nuevo constructo teórico de cómo administrar y liderar organizaciones sociales y productivas, que se generan en el ámbito de la educación. La pedagogía, la andragogía y la hodogogía como elementos dinamizadores de este enfoque consolidan la visión con responsabilidad entre ciencia y sabiduría. Los principios de la ciencia andina elevados a nivel teórico y pragmatizados en la vivencia de los pueblos solucionando problemas concretos de esa realidad, han permitido identificar modelos de trabajo eficientes en la consecución de fines y objetivos estratégicos. El relevar esta opción del conocimiento ancestral o sabiduría andina, no es para posicionar una visión de menosprecio o revanchismo racial, a otras perspectivas de desarrollo científico y tecnológico, sino más bien para que con sinergia se trabajen desde esta posibilidad concreta de vida y el cientificismo occidental, las empresas con su modelo gerencial se nutran entre sí y consoliden un accionar al construir una ventaja competitiva pensando en la sostenibilidad de las diferentes organizaciones, que busquen mejorar la calidad de vida; en procura de seguir generando, la riqueza de un territorio, apropiada de un modelo de negocio, herramienta que “determina la forma por la cual un negocio crea, proporciona y captura valor.” (Osterwalder y Pigneur 2012, p. 14)

Copper in Wood Preservatives Delayed Wood Decomposition and Shifted Soil Fungal but Not Bacterial Community Composition

Copper-based fungicides are routinely used for wood and plant protection, which can lead to an enrichment of copper-tolerant microbial communities in soil. To investigate the effect of such wood preservatives on the soil fungal and bacterial community compositions, five different vineyard and fruit-growing soil environments were evaluated using incubation studies over time. Pine sapwood specimens were impregnated with either water or different biocide treatment solutions containing a mixture of copper, triazoles, and quaternary ammonium compounds (CuTriQAC), a mixture of triazoles and quaternary ammonium compounds (TriQAC), or copper alone (Cu). Specimens were incubated in soil from each sample site for 8, 16, 24, and 32 weeks. The effects of preservative treatment on the modulus of elasticity (MOE) of the wood specimens and on the soil fungal as well as bacterial community composition at the soil-wood interface were assessed by quantitative PCR and amplicon sequencing of the fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Specimens impregnated with CuTriQAC and Cu showed decreased MOE and reduced fungal and bacterial copy numbers over time compared to those impregnated with water and TriQAC. Fungal but not bacterial community composition was significantly affected by wood preservative treatment. The relative abundance of members of the family Trichocomaceae compared to other genera increased in the presence of the Cu and CuTriQAC treatments at three sites, suggesting these to be Cu-tolerant fungi. In conclusion, the copper-containing treatments resulted in marginally increased MOE, lowered microbial gene copy numbers compared to those in the TriQAC and water treatments, and thus enhanced wood protection against soil microbial wood degradation

Investigating Lactococcus lactis MG1363 response to phage p2 infection at the proteome level

Phages are viruses that specifically infect and eventually kill their bacterial hosts. Bacterial fermentation and biotechnology industries see them as enemies, however, they are also investigated as antibacterial agents for the treatment or prevention of bacterial infections in various sectors. They also play key ecological roles in all ecosystems. Despite decades of research some aspects of phage biology are still poorly understood. In this study, we used label-free quantitative proteomics to reveal the proteotypes of Lactococcus lactis MG1363 during infection by the virulent phage p2, a model for studying the biology of phages infecting Gram-positive bacteria. Our approach resulted in the high-confidence detection and quantification of 59% of the theoretical bacterial proteome, including 226 bacterial proteins detected only during phage infection and 6 proteins unique to uninfected bacteria. We also identified many bacterial proteins of differing abundance during the infection. Using this high-throughput proteomic datasets, we selected specific bacterial genes for inactivation using CRISPR-Cas9 to investigate their involvement in phage replication. One knockout mutant lacking gene llmg_0219 showed resistance to phage p2 because of a deficiency in phage adsorption. Furthermore, we detected and quantified 78% of the theoretical phage proteome and identified many proteins of phage p2 that had not been previously detected. Among others, we uncovered a conserved small phage protein (pORFN1) coded by an unannotated gene. We also applied a targeted approach to achieve greater sensitivity and identify undetected phage proteins that were expected to be present. This allowed us to follow the fate of pORF46, a small phage protein of low abundance. In summary, this work offers a unique view of the virulent phages' takeover of bacterial cells and provides novel information on phage-host interactions

Coverage-dependent adsorption and desorption of oxygen on Pd(100)

Catalysis and Surface Chemistr

Uterine NK cells are critical in shaping DC immunogenic functions compatible with pregnancy progression.

Dendritic cell (DC) and natural killer (NK) cell interactions are important for the regulation of innate and adaptive immunity, but their relevance during early pregnancy remains elusive. Using two different strategies to manipulate the frequency of NK cells and DC during gestation, we investigated their relative impact on the decidualization process and on angiogenic responses that characterize murine implantation. Manipulation of the frequency of NK cells, DC or both lead to a defective decidual response characterized by decreased proliferation and differentiation of stromal cells. Whereas no detrimental effects were evident upon expansion of DC, NK cell ablation in such expanded DC mice severely compromised decidual development and led to early pregnancy loss. Pregnancy failure in these mice was associated with an unbalanced production of anti-angiogenic signals and most notably, with increased expression of genes related to inflammation and immunogenic activation of DC. Thus, NK cells appear to play an important role counteracting potential anomalies raised by DC expansion and overactivity in the decidua, becoming critical for normal pregnancy progression

Revisiting Fara: Comparison of merged prospection results of diverse magnetometers with the earliest excavations in ancient Suruppak from 120 years ago

Ancient Suruppak, today Fara, was one of the major Sumerian cities in Mesopotamia. It was situated along one of the ancient watercourses of the Euphrates River. Findings date it back to the Jemdet Nasr period around 3000 bc with a continuous occupation until the end of the Ur III period around 2000 bc. Fara was first explored and excavated by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft in the years 1902 and 1903 under the direction of Walter Andrae. Multiple excavation trenches with lengths up to 900 m transect the 1 km(2) wide mound and are still visible today which enables us to georeference the excavation maps. Today, the 2.2 km(2) wide archaeological area is dry and without any vegetation. Thousands of deep looting pits are covering the majority of mound which not only destroyed its upper metres but also challenge the application of geophysical prospection methods and their interpretation. The magnetometer prospecting of selected areas on and around the mound was carried out with three devices, two total field magnetometers and one gradiometer. The individual survey areas were combined in post-processing by applying a high-pass filter on the total field data sets and multiplying the vertical gradiometer data sets by a factor of two. This approach provides visually uniform magnetograms, despite being obtained by different devices, which simplifies subsequent visual interpretation. These magnetograms enable us to review, and to extend the results of the old excavations. The comparison show a good correlation in accuracy to the old drawings and positive identification of the already excavated features with magnetometry. Highlights of the survey are the discovery of the city wall confirming its existence, the layout of a unique building complex in the centre of the mound, likely a temple, traces of canals inside the city and an evaluation of magnetometer prospection over a looted area

Trajectories of Health-Related Quality of Life and HbA1c Values of Children and Adolescents With Diabetes Mellitus Type 1 Over 6 Months: A Longitudinal Observational Study

Introduction: To achieve optimized blood glucose concentrations (assessed by HbA1c) and high health-related quality of life (HRQL), children and adolescents with diabetes mellitus type 1 (T1DM) must follow strict disease management strategies. This study aims to investigate HRQL of children and adolescents with T1DM and its association with HbA1c values over the course of 6 months. Methods: Patients aged 7-17 years (n = 203) with T1DM provided HRQL data on a monthly basis. HRQL was measured using the Kids-CAT, a computer-adaptive test (CAT) comprising five generic HRQL domains. HbA1c concentrations were assessed at baseline, at 3 and 6 months. We explored the trajectory of HRQL at the domain level using linear mixed effects models. Further, we investigated the association between HRQL and HbA1c concentrations over time using path analysis models. Results: Children and adolescents with T1DM reported high scores across all HRQL domains over time. However, those with an HbA1c concentrations of \u3e 9.0% reported significantly lower scores in physical well-being and parent relations compared with those with an HbA1c concentration of \u3c 7.5%. Path analysis models revealed a minimal temporal relationship between HbA1c and HRQL, with a small negative impact of HbA1c on physical well-being, psychological well-being and parent relations. Conclusion: Although observed HRQL of young patients with T1DM was comparable to age-related German-speaking reference population over the course of 6 months, those with an HbA1c concentration \u3e 9.0% reported lower scores in selected HRQL domains. Thus, special attention should be drawn to HRQL of children and adolescents with higher HbA1c concentrations. The minimal relationship between HbA1c and HRQL indicates that the two therapy goals, i.e., achievement and maintenance of glycemic targets and high HRQL, should be considered and evaluated independently in clinical routine. Trial Registration: DRKS00006326 (German Clinical Trial Register), date of registration: August 1st, 2014