Dan Dillon, CEO of Welch Foods

Welch Foods saw its purpose as building long-term value in the cooperative and releasing that value back to the grower-owners over time and to provide a reliable market for their grapes through excellence in product quality, customer service, market responsiveness and consumer satisfaction. Welch's processed 50 percent of Concord grapes and 80 percent of Niagara grapes produced in the United States into juices, jellies, jams and other products. The objective of this executive interview is to introduce Dan Dillon and Welch Foods and describe challenges faced by a producer-owned cooperative in the 21st century. The interview was conducted at the 2003 Farmer Cooperatives program in Kansas City.Agribusiness, Strategy, Agribusiness,

Cenozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks of New Zealand: A reference volume of lithology, age and paleoenvironments with maps (PMAPs) and database.

This volume presents descriptive geological data and text about each Cenozoic sedimentary and volcanic geological unit to formation and member level (in some cases) exposed on land in New Zealand, including their lithology, stratigraphic age and inferred environment of deposition or emplacement. These data are illustrated as two types of PMAPS: a present-day paleoenvironment map of New Zealand; and as restored paleoenvironment maps, one for each million years from 65 Ma to the present. These information and data underpin the development of a new Cenozoic paleogeographical model of New Zealand

Brief Note: Fatoua villosa (Moraceae), Mulberry Weed, in Ohio

Author Institution: W.S. Turrell Herbarium, Department of Botany, Miami UniversityFatoua villosa (Thunb.) Nakai (Moraceae) is reported from Ohio, from outdoor sites in Butler, Franklin, and Washington counties, and from greenhouse sites in Athens, Butler, and Hamilton counties. The species was first found in the state in 1979, but has not previously been reported in floristic literature for Ohio. It probably entered the state through greenhouses and nursery stock from which it escaped into weedy areas and flower beds. It persists in outdoor situations in the state and is likely to become a common weedy species in Ohio. An illustration is included for the first time in North American botanical literature

HEALTH VALUE IN FOOD SAFETY SURVEILLANCE INITIATIVES

Recognizing the increasing concern about the potential health effects of genetically modified foods, this research provides a framework for economic value of monitoring genetically modified food for their potential long-term human health effects. This is with the view of helping policy makers improve resource allocation decisions in the face of competing public health initiatives. Using a hypothetical population exposed to a hypothetical product, we estimate the health value associated with a post-market surveillance initiative. The analysis indicate that the principal challenge confronting decision makers in the implementation of post-market surveillance initiatives is prioritising products for monitoring given the uncertainty associated with outcomes and effects.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Land O' Lakes

The case begins with an examination of Land O' Lakes' diversified portfolio of businesses. The business had undergone significant changes since 1998 - it dominated market share in butter and deli cheese, had become the largest crop protection, plant nutrient, and feed manufacturer in the US, and was the fourth largest US seed company. Land O'Lakes used mergers, joint ventures, acquisitions of public and private firms, and divestitures/closing of assets to restructure its portfolio to build its portfolio. The main issue was to evaluate its diversified portfolio of businesses and find ways to improve future performance.Dairy, Agribusiness, Portfolio, Cooperative, Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,

New Records of Alien Species in the Ohio Vascular Flora

Author Institution: Department of Botany, Miami University ; Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, Ohio Department of Natural ResourcesExamination of specimens of vascular plants from various herbaria, as well as field collections, have revealed 70 taxa not previously reported for Ohio, or previously reported without documentation. This paper documents these new taxa, 44% of which are escapes of woody landscape plants. The specimens cited represent 55 genera in 30 families. Of these, the following genera are first reports for the state: Achyranthes, Albizia, Carthamus, Cercidiphyllum, Cotoneaster, Dactyloctenium, Fontanesia, Gaillardia, Guizotia, Gypsophila, Stenosiphon, Tripsacum, and Zinnia. Cercidiphyllaceae is the only family reported as new for the state. Some taxa cited in this paper represent first reports as escapes for North America. These are Cotoneaster divaricatus (Rosaceae), Fontanesia fortunei (Oleaceae), Magnolia X soulangeana (Magnoliaceae), Magnolia stellata (Magnoliaceae), Viburnum buddleifolium (Caprifoliaceae), and Viburnum x rhytidiphylloides (Caprifoliaceae)

Novel Distances for Dollo Data

We investigate distances on binary (presence/absence) data in the context of a Dollo process, where a trait can only arise once on a phylogenetic tree but may be lost many times. We introduce a novel distance, the Additive Dollo Distance (ADD), which is consistent for data generated under a Dollo model, and show that it has some useful theoretical properties including an intriguing link to the LogDet distance. Simulations of Dollo data are used to compare a number of binary distances including ADD, LogDet, Nei Li and some simple, but to our knowledge previously unstudied, variations on common binary distances. The simulations suggest that ADD outperforms other distances on Dollo data. Interestingly, we found that the LogDet distance performs poorly in the context of a Dollo process, which may have implications for its use in connection with conditioned genome reconstruction. We apply the ADD to two Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) datasets, one that broadly covers Eucalyptus species and one that focuses on the Eucalyptus series Adnataria. We also reanalyse gene family presence/absence data on bacteria from the COG database and compare the results to previous phylogenies estimated using the conditioned genome reconstruction approach

Drugs In the Workplace: A Manager\u27s Guide

Drugs in the workplace is a growing problem that threatens a valuable human resource - the employee. Managers in the hospitality industry can take a proactive stance in meeting the problem head on. The authors discuss what managers can do

Optimal overlayer inspired by Photuris firefly improves light-extraction efficiency of existing light-emitting diodes

In this paper the design, fabrication and characterization of a bioinspired overlayer deposited on a GaN LED is described. The purpose of this overlayer is to improve light extraction into air from the diode's high refractive-index active material. The layer design is inspired by the microstructure found in the firefly Photuris sp. The actual dimensions and material composition have been optimized to take into account the high refractive index of the GaN diode stack. This two-dimensional pattern contrasts other designs by its unusual profile, its larger dimensions and the fact that it can be tailored to an existing diode design rather than requiring a complete redesign of the diode geometry. The gain of light extraction reaches values up to 55% with respect to the reference unprocessed LED.Comment: 9 pages, 9 Figures, published in Optics Expres