THE DEMAND FOR BEEF PRODUCTS: CROSS-SECTION ESTIMATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC EFFECTS

This paper presents estimates of the economic and demographic effects on the demand for steak, roast, and ground beef. Using an almost ideal demand system, the results indicate that demand is inelastic for steak and ground beef, elastic for roast, cross-price effects are significant, and all goods are Hicks-Allen substitutes. The impact of certain demographic effects, such as household size, region, tenancy, and ethnic origin, was generally quite significant. Other demographic variables, such as employment status, shopper, and occupation, were generally not significant.Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT MOTIVATIONS OF U.S. WINERIES

This study used personal and telephone interviews of wine industry executives and observers to examine the foreign direct investment motivations of U.S. wineries. Underlying most winery motivations was the recognition that U.S. wineries sense increasing pressure to offer a competitive range of wines that meet the price/quality needs of consumers and retailers in important markets and market segments. Wineries' marketing plans are often constrained by their ability to obtain adequate grape and juice supplies that meet important price and quality criteria, especially when domestic grape production drops. The importance of product portfolios and the industry's resource dependence have placed tremendous pressures on U.S. wineries to coordinate winegrape and juice acquisitions, especially as retailers consolidate their supply chains. Some U.S. wineries have invested abroad in response to these pressures while others have not. Interview results suggest that foreign investments by U.S. wineries were primarily motivated by the need for greater access to stable or adequate winegrape/juice supplies, the need for more control over the winegrape costs within given quality levels, and the desire to expand wine portfolios.International Relations/Trade,

Seed maturation time influences the germination requirements of perennial grasses in desert climate of Arabian Gulf

AbstractQatar has a dry, subtropical desert climate, with minimum annual rainfall and intensely hot and humid summers. Using indigenous grass, those adapted to local conditions have the potential to be used for fodder and can also be used for restoration or rehabilitation of degraded rangelands. Chloris virgata, Coelachyrum brevifolium and Cenchrus ciliaris bloom twice a year from April to May (summer) and September to October (winter) under the nursery condition. Therefore, it is important to understand, how seeds produced in different seasons affect the dormancy as well as germination of these species. Seeds of C. virgata, C. brevifolium and C. ciliaris, three desert grasses, were collected from the plants growing on Shahniya nursery in two different seasons, summer (May) and winter (October). The seeds collected in May (summer) were stored up to winter. However seeds collected in October (winter) were immediately used for experiment. We compared the germination potential of seeds that matured in different season at different alternating temperatures at 15/25, 20/30 and 25/35°C. Lower temperatures correspond to the dark period, while higher temperatures reflect the light period. Seeds collected in summer season (old seeds) were heavier as compared to seeds collected in winter season (new seeds). Winter seeds of C. virgata seem to be dormant, while summer seeds, germinated well in all the tested temperature regimes. However, C. ciliaris seeds showed opposite trends

Characterization of Invasiveness, Thermotolerance and Light Requirement of Nine Invasive Species in China

Understanding responsible functional traits for promoting plant invasiveness could be important to aid in the development of adequate management strategies for invasive species. Seed traits play an important role in the plant life cycle by affecting dispersal ability, formation of the soil seed bank, type and level of dormancy, germination, survival and/or competitive ability. We assessed seed traits and germination strategies of nine invasive species under five temperature regimes and light/dark treatments. Our results showed a considerable level of interspecific variation in germination percentage among the tested species. Both cooler (5/10 degrees C) and warmer (35/40 degrees C) temperatures tended to inhibit germination. All study species were considered small-seeded, and seed size did not affect germination in the light. Yet, a slightly negative correlation was found between germination in the dark and seed dimensions. We classified the species into three categories according to their germination strategies: (i) risk-avoiders, mostly displaying dormant seeds with low G%; (ii) risk-takers, reaching a high G% in a broad range of temperatures; (iii) intermediate species, showing moderate G% values, which could be enhanced in specific temperature regimes. Variability in germination requirements could be important to explain species coexistence and invasion ability of plants to colonize different ecosystems

Actionable Information - Research Briefs - 2 - U.S. and Mexico COVID-19 Dashboards

Includes both static PDF version and the dynamic web version.States in the U.S. have produced COVID-19 dashboards to communicate the status of the pandemic to the population. This research brief presents a summary of the available dashboards for the U.S. and Mexico states. Additionally a map of the U.S. is presented with the total number of variables that are reported in the state dashboard(s)

Actionable Information - Research Briefs - 3 - Analysis on U.S. States COVID-19 Dashboards

Includes both static PDF version and the dynamic web version.Covid-19 dashboards developed by state authorities in the U.S. present different variables to communicate the status and evolution of the pandemic in their territories. This research brief summarizes the different platforms used to develop the dashboards. Also, the brief includes an analysis on the dashboard contents in terms of total number of variables, type of variables, number of variables per risk component (i.e. Threats, Vulnerable Systems, Impacts, States of Risk, Mitigating Strategies). Finally, the number of variables per risk component are compared to COVID-19 metrics such as daily cases, and daily deaths (per 100K population) in order to identify how the risk communication in the dashboards impact the management of the pandemic

Actionable Information - Research Briefs - 5 - Summary and Assessment of Weather Information Services

Includes both static PDF version and the dynamic web version.This research brief includes a summary of various weather information services, detailing the procedures followed to obtain and generate data, and a breakdown of the information provided. Based on this information, the services were qualitatively assessed to determine the most fitting one (s) in the production of risk analytics for supply chains impacted by natural Threat

Actionable Information - Research Briefs - 4 - Literature Review on the Impact of Natural Threats on Supply Chains

Includes both static PDF version and the dynamic web version.A literature review was conducted in order to identify the most impactful effects of natural hazards on the operation of supply chains. The review considered the body of research produced about this topic including the distribution of scientific documents produced by year, and the number of mentions of different natural threats in them

Tolerance to salinity in Jatropha curcas are genotype-dependent/ A tolerância à salinidade em pinhão manso é dependente do genótipo

Dissonant results in Jatropha curcas tolerance to salinity obtained by different research groups in several countries suggest that tolerance is connected to variation of the genetic origin of the genotypes used. To verify this hypothesis, this work compared the physiological, photochemical and nutritional responses of different genotypes from J. curcas under to saline stress. Seeds of six genotypes of J. curcas (CNPAE112, CNPAE114, JCAL171, CNPAE183, CNPAE218, and CNPAE304) were germinated and fertirigated for three months with a Hoagland nutrient solution at 50%. After that, the plants received different concentrations of NaCl (0, 250, 500 and 750 mM) added to the nutritious solution for 48 h (maximum stress). Later, the salt was washed out from the substrate with solutions free from NaCl for 914 h to plant recovery. Gas exchanges, fluorescence chlorophyll a, osmotic potential and concentration of macro- and micronutrients of leaves were quantified. Physiological analyzes showed that genotypes CNPAE112, CNPAE114, and JCAL171 were more tolerant to salt stress due to complete recovery of their gas exchange rates after transferring plants to salt-free media. The genotypes CNPAE218 and CNPAE304 were more sensitive to saline stress, showing no recovery of the gas exchange and no recovering of maximum quantum efficiency of PSII, besides having high concentrations of Na+ in leaf after transferring plants to salt-free media. The genotype CNPAE183 was shown to be intermediate to the two previously situations. Therefore, we can suggest that CNPAE112, CNPAE114, and JCAL171 presented higher tolerance to saline stress, while CNPAE218, CNPAE304 showed to be more sensitive