Global Governance for Environmentally Sustainable Food Systems: Certified Organics in a North – South and South-South Perspective

Challenged to consume with less environmental impact, consumers buy certified organic products to “proxy” environmental governance. The paper explores how far certified organic agriculture is institutionally embedded in Brazil, China, and Egypt. The three case studies illustrate how regulation, including standard-setting and certification processes differ between south and north, in terms of the evolution and nature of certification, as well as stakeholders and agency involved in shaping the regulation. A comparative analysis is presented on south-south differences in this regard along with some possible explanations of these. The paper finally discusses the perspectives in the global success of organic certification and whether it has potential to transform global agriculture towards higher overall levels of sustainability

Lipohypertrophy in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes and the associated factors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite the important implications of lipohypertrophy for diabetes control, there is a dearth of information and research about the subject in children. The aim of this study was to study the prevalence of lipohypertrophy in children with type 1 diabetes, and to evaluate the associated factors.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>119 children coming for regular follow up in the diabetes clinic were examined for the presence of lipohypertrophy by inspection and palpation. The last 4 readings of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and other factors that may affect lipohypertrophy were documented. RESULTS: The patient's age ranged from 2 months to 21 years with a median of 10 years (inter-quartile range = 6). Lipohypertrophy occurred in 54.9% of patients, more commonly in males (62.7%) vs. females (48.4%) (P = 0.074). Grade 1 lipohypertrophy occurred in 42.5% and grade 2 in 12.4%. Lipohypertrophy was related significantly to the dose of insulin units per kg of body weight (Odds ratio [OR] = 16.4; 95% CI, 2.2 - 124.6; P = 0.007), the duration of diabetes, [OR] = 1.16; 95% CI, 1.05 - 1.32; P = 0.004)), and the body mass index (BMI) [OR] = 1.68; 95% CI, 1.25 - 2.15; P = 0.006). The mean HbA1c levels of patients with grade 1 and grade 2 lipohypertrophy did not differ from diabetics without lipohypertrophy (F = 0.178, P = 0.837)</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The presence of lipohypertrophy was significantly associated with the duration of diabetes and the body mass index. Children with lipohypertrophy needed a significantly higher dose of insulin units/kg of body weight to achieve fair control compared to children without lipohypertrophy. Further studies are needed to ascertain the clinical meaning of these findings.</p

Gaudin models solver based on the Bethe ansatz/ordinary differential equations correspondence

We present a numerical approach which allows the solving of Bethe equations whose solutions define the eigenstates of Gaudin models. By focusing on a new set of variables, the canceling divergences which occur for certain values of the coupling strength no longer appear explicitly. The problem is thus reduced to a set of quadratic algebraic equations. The required inverse transformation can then be realized using only linear operations and a standard polynomial root finding algorithm. The method is applied to Richardson's fermionic pairing model, the central spin model and generalized Dicke model.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, published versio

Bethe Ansatz and Ordinary Differential Equation Correspondence for Degenerate Gaudin Models

In this work, we generalize the numerical approach to Gaudin models developed earlier by us to degenerate systems showing that their treatment is surprisingly convenient from a numerical point of view. In fact, high degeneracies not only reduce the number of relevant states in the Hilbert space by a non negligible fraction, they also allow to write the relevant equations in the form of sparse matrix equations. Moreover, we introduce a new inversion method based on a basis of barycentric polynomials which leads to a more stable and efficient root extraction which most importantly avoids the necessity of working with arbitrary precision. As an example we show the results of our procedure applied to the Richardson model on a square lattice.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, published versio

Studying the ultrasonic assisted transesterification of castor oil by using factorial design for optimization of biodiesel production

This work presents the biodiesel production from castor oil with methanol in presence of potassium hydroxide as catalyst at room temperature using ultrasonic bath. A factorial design of experiments and a central composite design have been used to evaluate the influence of operating conditions on biodiesel synthesis from inedible castor oil. The response chosen was viscosity while the variables studied were catalyst concentration and the methanol/vegetable oil molar ratio at room temperature in an ultrasonic bath. The methanol/vegetable oil molar ratio is the most important factor, having a negative influence on viscosity.The catalyst concentration has a small negative influence on viscosity and this is attributed to the presence of ultra-sonification. A second order model was obtained to predict the produced biodiesel viscosity. Within the experimental range studied the model matched the results from the experiments

Market Integration Shape Organic Farmers’ Organisation

Increasing consumption of organic products in globalised food chains will require the involvement of thousands more smallholder farmers in many regions of the world. A study of Egypt, China and Uganda identified the three key factors of property rights regimes, cultural differences and social organisation as determents of the supply chain organization and farmers’ degree of direct integration in the export markets. Patterns are emerging where smallholder farmers are being socially and economically linked to larger farmers who may do some processing before the raw materials are handed over to the contracting company. Where transactions costs are high, local communities may develop and contract out the land directly to exporting companies who farm using employees. Four organisational patterns are identified which each leads to different types of livelihood benefits for the producers; preliminary results indicate that income and a reliable market access is the dominant benefits

Peptidomimetic and Non- Peptidomimetic Derivatives as Possible SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease (Mpro) Inhibitors

To design novel inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro), we investigated the binding mode of the recently reported α-ketoamide inhibitors of this enzyme. Following, we utilized in-silico screening to identify 168 peptidomimetic and non-peptidomimetic compounds that are high probability Mpro binding candidates. The compounds were synthesized in 5 to 10 mg for initial screening for their potential inhibition of Mpro using Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) assay. The study was conducted using the main protease, MBP-tagged (SARS-CoV-2) Assay Kit (BPS Bioscience, #79955-2), and the fluorescence due to enzymatic cleavage of substrate measured using BMG LABTECH CLARIOstar™, a fluorescent microplate reader, with an excited/emission wavelength of 360 nm/460 nm, respectively. The FRET assay showed 29 compounds to exhibit lower fluorescence compared to the positive control, indicating inhibitory activity, with three of the compounds exhibiting over 50% enzymatic inhibition. The assay average scores were plotted as dose inhibition curves using variable parameter nonlinear regression to calculate the IC50 values. To design more potent inhibitors, an in-silico molecular docking simulation using the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro crystal structure was conducted to investigate on a molecular level the key binding residues at the active site, as well as the possible binding modes and affinity of the lead inhibitors. Additionally, an in-silico study of the compounds\u27 molecular properties and physicochemical profiles was performed to predict their pharmacokinetic properties and assess their suitability as potential orally active drug candidates.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1139/thumbnail.jp