Is Investment in Agricultural Research a Good Substitute for Price Support in U.S. Cotton?

This article examines the effects of R&D on cotton yield and relationship between R&D and commodity support programs. The results indicate that yield elasticities with respect to cotton R&D is around 0.2-0.5 based on different regions. It further indicates that R&D increases government expenditures when both commodity programs and R&D funding exist. However, if the future WTO Doha negotiations rules out the possibility of price support programs, increasing R&D funding may provide one of the solutions for farmers to recover their income with 5-6 years lag.cotton, R&D, commodity support programs, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Response of Cotton to Oil Price Shocks

This paper shows that the response of cotton prices in the U.S. to fluctuations in oil prices in the international market may differ greatly depending on whether the increase is driven by demand or supply shocks in the crude oil market. In the long-run, around 3 percent of the variability in cotton prices can be attributed to shocks to global demand for industrial commodities while none can be traced to oil supply shocks.cotton, oil price, demand shocks, supply shocks, structural vector autoregression (SVAR), Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Q11, Q41,

Sino-U.S. Price Transmission in Agricultural Commodities: How Important are Exchange Rate Movements?

Commodity price transmissions between China and the U.S. are examined. The results indicate that variations in Chinese cotton and soybean prices are transmitted to U.S. cotton and soybean prices while variations in Chinese wheat and rice prices do not get transmitted to U.S. wheat and rice prices. The effects of volatilities in oil prices and in the exchange rate on the price transmission are also assessed.rice, soybean, cotton, wheat, China, U.S., price transmission, exchange rate, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Q11, Q17,

The Impacts of Eliminating the Direct Payments on the U.S. Cotton Market

This study analyzes the effects of eliminating direct payments paid to cotton farmers in the U.S. Our results suggest that while the impact of eliminating direct payments on domestic production is offset to some extent by rising prices, the more significant effect is on farmers’ net income.Agricultural and Food Policy, Production Economics,

Response of Cotton to Oil Price Shocks

Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, February 6-9, 2010Cotton, oil price, demand shocks, supply shocks, structural vector autoregression, Demand and Price Analysis, Industrial Organization,

The Effects of Domestic Offset Programs on the Cotton Market

This paper analyzed the effects of the U.S. domestic offset program on the world cotton markets using a partial equilibrium model following the assumption given by Brown et al. (2010). The results in our study are largely similar to those of Baker et al. and Brown et al., confirming that study’s findings that ACES, and its domestic offset program in particular, would cause increases in the domestic prices of several agricultural commodities. However, the overall effects of this increase in the world price on total world trade is tempered by increased exports from India, Brazil, Uzbekistan, Australia, and Western & Central African countries.offset program, cotton, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Q170, Q180,

Understanding Acre for Cotton

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 was passed into law on May 22, 2008 with veto override votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate (House 2008). A difference between the 2002 and the 2008 bills is the newly instituted revenue-based counter-cyclical program called the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program available beginning crop year 2009. The ACRE program is offered as an alternative to the counter-cyclical payment (CCP) program that was in place during the 2002-2008 period. Beginning with the 2009 crop year, producers will have the option to enroll their farm in either the CCP program or the ACRE program. If ACRE is elected, producers cannot change program participation for the duration of the 2008 farm bill (ERS 2008). This is a very complex decision due to the number of variables that must be considered and depends on the individual farm situation. It requires that farms, rather than crops or commodities, enter the program, so that the decision relies on the impacts of program choice on farm income. That aside, understanding commodity situations is a first step toward understanding and making decisions on individual farm situations. The purpose of this briefing paper is to provide assistance in understanding the differences between the ACRE and CCP programs for one crop, cotton, in one state, Texas. The briefing paper will also show the results of a comparison between CCP and ACRE payments using a sample of actual farm data.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Filanesib plus bortezomib and dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory t(11;14) and 1q21 gain multiple myeloma.

Filanesib is a first-in-class kinesin spindle protein inhibitor which demonstrated safety and encouraging activity in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in a preliminary analysis of dose-escalation phase results. This multicenter study included first a dose-escalation phase to determine maximum tolerated dose of two schedules of filanesib, bortezomib, and dexamethasone and a subsequent dose-expansion phase using the maximum tolerated doses. In the dose-expansion phase, 28 patients were evaluable for safety and efficacy. The most common grade ≥3 adverse events were neutropenia (21%) and anemia (18%), which were noncumulative and reversible, and hypertension (18%). The overall response rate was 43% with median duration of response not yet reached (range, 2.8-23.7+ months) with median follow-up of 6.3 months. A post hoc analysis incorporated 29 dose-escalation phase patients who received therapeutic filanesib doses, with an overall response rate of 39% and median duration of response of 18.0 months among the 57 total patients with median progression-free survival of 8.5 months. Notably, the PFS of high risk patients was comparable at 8.5 months, driven by the patients with 1q21 gain, characterized by increased MCL-1 expression, with a PFS of 9.1 months versus 3.5 months for the remainder of high risk patients. Patients with t(11;14) also had an encouraging PFS of 15.0 months. The combination of filanesib, bortezomib, and dexamethasone continues to show safety and encouraging activity in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, particularly in those patients with 1q21 gain and t(11;14)

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: the transition to large-scale cosmic homogeneity

We have made the largest-volume measurement to date of the transition to large-scale homogeneity in the distribution of galaxies. We use the WiggleZ survey, a spectroscopic survey of over 200,000 blue galaxies in a cosmic volume of ~1 (Gpc/h)^3. A new method of defining the 'homogeneity scale' is presented, which is more robust than methods previously used in the literature, and which can be easily compared between different surveys. Due to the large cosmic depth of WiggleZ (up to z=1) we are able to make the first measurement of the transition to homogeneity over a range of cosmic epochs. The mean number of galaxies N(<r) in spheres of comoving radius r is proportional to r^3 within 1%, or equivalently the fractal dimension of the sample is within 1% of D_2=3, at radii larger than 71 \pm 8 Mpc/h at z~0.2, 70 \pm 5 Mpc/h at z~0.4, 81 \pm 5 Mpc/h at z~0.6, and 75 \pm 4 Mpc/h at z~0.8. We demonstrate the robustness of our results against selection function effects, using a LCDM N-body simulation and a suite of inhomogeneous fractal distributions. The results are in excellent agreement with both the LCDM N-body simulation and an analytical LCDM prediction. We can exclude a fractal distribution with fractal dimension below D_2=2.97 on scales from ~80 Mpc/h up to the largest scales probed by our measurement, ~300 Mpc/h, at 99.99% confidence.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Sequencing T-cell redirection therapies leads to deep and durable responses in patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma.

T-cell redirection therapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells and bispecific antibodies (BiAbs) has shown promising efficacy in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM), leading to the approval of 2 CAR T-cell products and numerous BiAb trials. Data on the outcomes after relapse following BiAbs are urgently required to develop strategies for sequencing salvage therapies. We identified 58&nbsp;patients progressing after a BiAb trial at Mount Sinai Hospital. Progression-free survival (PFS) to the first salvage (PFS1), second salvage therapy (PFS2), and overall survival (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The median age of the patients was 67&nbsp;years, and 78% had high-risk cytogenetics. They had a median of 6 prior therapy lines, 89% were triple-class refractory, and 44% were penta-drug refractory. After the BiAb trial, patients were followed for a median of 30.5 months and received a median of 2 additional salvage therapies (range, 1-9). The most common first salvage was T-cell redirection in 19&nbsp;patients (10 BiAb and 9 CAR T cells). Ten patients underwent T-cell redirection as a second salvage treatment. T-cell redirection therapy as first or second salvage was feasible and associated with a median PFS1 of 28.9 months, PFS2 of 30.9 months, and an OS of 62% at 2&nbsp;years. The sequential use of different T-cell redirection therapies is possible and may lead to deep and durable responses following the relapse after BiAb therapy in RRMM