Examining Consumers\u27 Trust in the Food Supply Chain

Consumers are concerned about the quality and safety of their food at all times during the food supply chain, but sensationalized media coverage, lack of knowledge, and recent recalls have made it difficult for consumers to trust the agricultural industry. Because trust drives risk perceptions and acceptance, it is important for agricultural communicators to understand how personal characteristics influence trust in the food supply chain. To fulfill the purpose of this study, a national quota sample of 847 responses to an online questionnaire were collected in March 2019. The results indicated respondents held a moderate level of trust toward production agriculture, food processing, food retail, and food safety regulation, with the greatest level of trust assigned to production agriculture. Trust in these sectors of the food supply chain were also positively correlated to one another. Regression models for trust in each agricultural sector were significant but only accounted for 9% of the variance in the dependent variable at most. Direct engagement in agriculture was a positive predictor in trust across all four areas, and use of social media was a negative predictor for trust. Income and gender were also found to be predictors of trust in production agriculture, food processing, food retail, and food safety regulation. The findings from this study can be used to guide future communication to increase the level of trust in the food supply chain, which would also increase consumers’ purchasing intent

Fuzzy Rings in D6-Branes and Magnetic Field Background

We use the Myers T-dual nonabelin Born-Infeld action to find some new nontrivial solutions for the branes in the background of D6-branes and Melvin magnetic tube field. In the D6-Branes background we can find both of the fuzzy sphere and fuzzy ring solutions, which are formed by the gravitational dielectric effect. We see that the fuzzy ring solution has less energy then that of the fuzzy sphere. Therefore the fuzzy sphere will decay to the fuzzy ring configuration. In the Melvin magnetic tube field background there does not exist fuzzy sphere while the fuzzy ring configuration may be formed by the magnetic dielectric effect. The new solution shows that $D_0$ propagating in the D6-branes and magnetic tube field background may expand into a rotating fuzzy ring. We also use the Dirac-Born-Infeld action to construct the ring configuration from the D-branes.Comment: Latex, 15 pages, detailed comments in section 2, typos correcte

Risk homeostasis theory - A study of intrinsic compensation

Risk homeostasis theory (RHT) suggests that changes made to the intrinsic risk of environments are negated in one of three ways: behavioural adjustments within the environment, mode migration, and avoidance of the physical risk. To date, this three-way model of RHT has little empirical support, whilst research findings on RHT have at times been diametrically opposed. A reconciliation of apparently opposing findings might be possible by suggesting that extrinsic compensation fails to restore previously existing levels of actual risk in cases where behavioural adjustments within the environment are incapable of negating intrinsic risk changes. This paper reports a study in which behavioural adjustments within the physical risk-taking environment are capable of reconciling target with actual risk. The results provide positive support for RHT in the form of overcompensation for the intrinsic risk change on specific driver behaviours

The transfer of fibres in the carding machine

The problem of understanding the transfer of fibres between carding-machine surfaces is addressed by considering the movement of a single fibre in an airflow. The structure of the aerodynamic flow field predicts how and when fibres migrate between the different process surfaces. In the case of a revolving-flats carding machine the theory predicts a “strong” aerodynamic mechanism between taker-in and cylinder and a “weak” mechanism between cylinder and removal cylinder resulting in effective transfer in the first case and a more limited transfer in the second

Seasonal and decadal groundwater changes in African sedimentary aquifers estimated using GRACE products and LSMs

Increased groundwater abstraction is important to the economic development of Africa and to achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, there is little information on long-term or seasonal groundwater trends due to a lack of in situ monitoring. Here we used GRACE data from three products CSR, JPL-MCN and GRGS to examine Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) changes in 12 African sedimentary aquifers, to examine relationships between TWS and rainfall from TRMM, and estimate Groundwater Storage (GWS) changes using four LSMs CLM2.0, VIC, MOSAIC and NOAH. We find that there are no substantial continuous longterm decreasing trends in groundwater storage from 2002 to 2016in any of the African basins, however, consistent rising groundwater trends amounting to ~1 km3/year and 1.5 km3/year are identified in the Iullemmeden and Senegal basins, respectively and longer term variations in ΔTWS in several basins associated with rainfall patterns. Discrete seasonal ΔTWS responses of ±1‒5 cm/year are indicated by GRACE for each of the basins, with the exception of the Congo, North Kalahari and Senegal basins which display larger seasonal ΔTWS equivalent to approx. ±11‒20 cm/year. The different seasonal responses in ΔTWS provide useful information about groundwater, including the identification of 5 to 9 month accumulation periods of rainfall in many semi-arid and arid basins as well as differences in ΔTWS responses between Sahelian and southern African aquifers to similar rainfall, likely reflecting differences in landcover. Seasonal ΔGWS estimated by combining GRACE ΔTWS with LSM outputs compare inconsistently to available in situ measurements of groundwater recharge from different basins, highlighting the need to further develop the representation of recharge process in LSMs and the need for more in situ observations from piezometry

Strings between branes

D-brane configurations containing fundamental strings are constructed as classical solutions of Yang-Mills theory. The fundamental strings in these systems stretch between D-branes. In the case of D1-branes, this construction gives smooth (classical) resolutions of string junctions and string networks. Using a non-abelian Yang-Mills analysis of the string current, the string charge density is computed and is shown to have support in the region between the D-brane world-volumes. The 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole is analyzed using similar methods, and is shown to contain D-strings whose flux has support off the D-brane world-volume defined by the Higgs scalar field, when this field is interpreted in terms of a transverse dimension. The constructions presented here are used to give a qualitative picture of tachyon condensation in the Yang-Mills limit, where fundamental strings and lower-dimensional D-branes arise in a volume of space-time where brane-antibrane annihilation has occurred.Comment: 35 pages, 16 eps figures, JHEP style; v2: a comment adde

First-principles Calculation of the Formation Energy in MgO-CaO Solid Solutions

The electronic structure and total energy were calculated for ordered and disordered MgO-CaO solid solutions within the multiple scattering theory in real space and the local density approximation. Based on the dependence of the total energy on the unit cell volume the equilibrium lattice parameter and formation energy were determined for different solution compositions. The formation energy of the solid solutions is found to be positive that is in agreement with the experimental phase diagram, which shows a miscibility gap.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Groundwater recharge influenced by ephemeral river flow and land use in the semiarid Limpopo Province of South Africa

Determining the sustainability of groundwater use in drylands with high climate variability is complex. Central to this determination is an understanding of groundwater recharge and associated processes and controls. Groundwater recharge in drylands can occur by diffuse and focused recharge (focused recharge being associated with intense episodic rainfall events and ephemeral river flow, predicted to increase and intensify with climate change). This study evaluated the relative significance and dominant controls on these two recharge processes. Ten groundwater hydrographs with multidecadal observations were collated from the Limpopo Province, South Africa, based on their proximity to river channels and rain gauges, representing diversity in local climate, landscape, vegetation, and hydrogeological conditions. The hydrographs showed that groundwater-level rises are sensitive to rainfall intensity during the rainy season, with generally larger increases after years with large episodic rainfall events, which disproportionately contribute to groundwater replenishment. Recharge processes and annual recharge volumes were quantified using the water-table fluctuation method and the numerical model HYDRUS-1D. This allowed for the inference of additional recharge contributions from focused recharge in proximity to ephemeral rivers, up to a factor of five relative to diffuse recharge. The analysis revealed synchronicity and linear correlation between annual river discharge and recharge close to the river, substantiating the importance of focused recharge close to the river network. The study showed that recharge in drylands is subject to large spatial and temporal variation and that consideration of focused and episodic recharge is critically important for managing groundwater resources at various scales in these regions