CAPTIVE SUPPLY TRENDS AND IMPACTS SINCE THE ADVENT OF MANDATORY PRICE REPORTING

Captive supplies have been a contentious issue in the livestock industry for fifteen years and the subject of both theoretical and empirical research. In 2001, mandatory price reporting was implemented. One objective by its proponents was to increase the amount of information available on captive supplies. This paper examines data now available as a result of mandatory price reporting to determine what additional information is available compared to previously. Second, several models were specified and estimated to determine the impacts captive supplies had on fed cattle prices in the two years following implementation of mandatory price reporting. Models showed mixed results. There was a consistent negative effect on cash market prices from formula priced trades; generally a positive impact from negotiated trades and packer owned trades on cash market prices; and mixed but often a positive impact from forward contract trades on cash market prices.Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,

MARKET ADJUSTMENT INSIGHTS: PRIMARY VS. SECONDARY DATA

Producers, researchers, and policy makers have an interest in market effects from meatpacking plant closings and openings. This paper presents results from a study taking a dual approach to determining impacts from an anticipated hog slaughtering plant opening and an unexpected fed cattle slaughtering plant closing. Secondary data are used in a price differences and partial adjustment model. Primary data are used in a logit model. Results indicate a clearer price effect from the plant opening than the plant closing. Primary data provide additional insight into the dynamics related to the two plant events.Industrial Organization,

Price Effects from an Anticipated Meatpacking Plant Opening and Unexpected Plant Closing

Livestock producers primarily, but policy makers also, have an interest in market effects from meatpacking plant closings and openings. This article presents results from a study to determine price impacts from an anticipated hog slaughtering plant opening and an unexpected fed cattle slaughtering plant closing. The estimated price effects for each plant event were modeled with price difference and partial adjustment models. The plant opening resulted in higher absolute and relative hog prices in the Provincial market where the plant was located. However, adverse price impacts from the fed cattle plant closing were less evident.buyer competition, fed cattle, hogs, livestock prices, market dynamics, meatpacking, Demand and Price Analysis,

Acquiring the Right to Get to the Light at the End of the Tunnel: Rationalising Property Theory

The framework of private property theory has come under increasing scrutiny over recent years. The orthodox bundle theory of ownership and labour principle of first acquisition has been the subject of attack and scepticism. This discussion suggests a new approach to the analysis of property, focus on synthesis rather than contrast. Further, the classic differences between Roman Law and Anglo-American common law, it is argued here, are in fact more apparent than real – their similarities reveal the basis for a universal grammar in property discourse. An examination of the contemporary property theories identifies that it is time to shift focus to a unifying concept and synthesis of canonical concepts

The Choice: India, America and the Future of Human Freedom

Rarely in history are the choices put before one nation and one people so consequential, and not simply to that country's own future, but to the course of humanity. Rarely does such a momentous time emerge that will decide the fate of many nations. Rarer still do the forces in such a world come together in a way that one nation's choices and actions may reverberate for good or for ill across the decades to come. Such a time is upon us now

“What Is It”? Containing the Threat of the Black Male Body in American Popular Culture

This thesis takes a critical look at the representation of the black male body in American popular culture throughout the twentieth century, intending to examine the meanings ascribed to this body and analyze the ways that these meanings are communicated to the consumers of these cultural productions. The focus will be on visual examples of popular cultural productions, with the intention of examining representations of the black male body in film, photography, and television, and the viewer. In looking at these cultural texts, the thesis will seek to examine the relationship between visual text and spectator, in terms of how these contribute to understandings of black masculinity. Because of the impact of cultural productions upon conceptions of the world, the self, and the relationship between the two, this thesis will seek to develop an understanding of the way that black masculinity is depicted visually, and what the implications of this are for American culture

Is communication guidance mistaken? Qualitative study of parent-oncologist communication in childhood cancer

background: Guidance encourages oncologists to engage patients and relatives in discussing the emotions that accompany cancer diagnosis and treatment. We investigated the perspectives of parents of children with leukaemia on the role of paediatric oncologists in such discussion. methods: Qualitative study comprising 33 audio-recorded parent–oncologist consultations and semi-structured interviews with 67 parents during the year following diagnosis. results: Consultations soon after the diagnosis were largely devoid of overt discussion of parental emotion. Interviewed parents did not describe a need for such discussion. They spoke of being comforted by oncologists’ clinical focus, by the biomedical information they provided and by their calmness and constancy. When we explicitly asked parents 1 year later about the oncologists’ role in emotional support, they overwhelmingly told us that they did not want to discuss their feelings with oncologists. They wanted to preserve the oncologists’ focus on their child’s clinical care, deprecated anything that diverted from this and spoke of the value of boundaries in the parent–oncologist relationship. conclusion: Parents were usually comforted by oncologists, but this was not achieved in the way suggested by communication guidance. Communication guidance would benefit from an enhanced understanding of how emotional support is experienced by those who rely on it

Impacts from opening and closing meatpacking plants

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Quantifying Inter- and Intra-Population Niche Variability Using Hierarchical Bayesian Stable Isotope Mixing Models

Variability in resource use defines the width of a trophic niche occupied by a population. Intra-population variability in resource use may occur across hierarchical levels of population structure from individuals to subpopulations. Understanding how levels of population organization contribute to population niche width is critical to ecology and evolution. Here we describe a hierarchical stable isotope mixing model that can simultaneously estimate both the prey composition of a consumer diet and the diet variability among individuals and across levels of population organization. By explicitly estimating variance components for multiple scales, the model can deconstruct the niche width of a consumer population into relevant levels of population structure. We apply this new approach to stable isotope data from a population of gray wolves from coastal British Columbia, and show support for extensive intra-population niche variability among individuals, social groups, and geographically isolated subpopulations. The analytic method we describe improves mixing models by accounting for diet variability, and improves isotope niche width analysis by quantitatively assessing the contribution of levels of organization to the niche width of a population

Protein structure prediction servers at University College London

A number of state-of-the-art protein structure prediction servers have been developed by researchers working in the Bioinformatics Unit at University College London. The popular PSIPRED server allows users to perform secondary structure prediction, transmembrane topology prediction and protein fold recognition. More recent servers include DISOPRED for the prediction of protein dynamic disorder and DomPred for domain boundary prediction. These servers are available from our software home page at