Farmers Coping with Market Shock

This research explores how agricultural SMEs are coping with the agricultural market shock mainly caused by Russian-Ukraine war outbreak in February 2022. The research paper is guided by three research questions investigating 1) the impacts of the current market shock on farms, 2) the coping strategies and decisional motivation of farmers, and 3) the planned adaptations and learnings of the farmers. A qualitative research methodology was employed, wherein semi-structured interviews were conducted with conventional crop farmers within a multiple case study design framework. Of the five cases, one farmer who farms in Poland was interviewed, while the other four are located in northern Germany. Key findings revealed that the farms are mainly affected by price volatility, scarcity and unavailability of goods, and rising machinery prices. To navigate these challenges, farmers employed strategies aimed primarily at ‘securing production’, while other strategies aimed at cushioning price volatility. They stocked up on machinery and essential input goods like plant protection chemicals, diesel, and fertilizers. Other strategies include distributed buying and selling of inputs and produce (‘salami tactics’), contractual agreements and forward pricing, and gaining market transparency through networking or contacting several agricultural traders. Farmers' planned adaptations differ among the study cases. While one of the farms plans on increasing input storage possibilities, others plan to use more ‘salami tactics’, and another case plans on constructing silos and a fermentation residue tank for future use of more organic-based fertilizer. By investigating farmers' responses to the market shock, this study enriches the discourse on organizational resilience and crisis management. It provides policymakers, crisis management researchers, and agricultural economics researchers with unique insights into risk management and adaptation to sudden exogenous market shocks while setting the stage for future research

GPU-accelerated lip-tracking library

A major part of having correct pronunciation when learning a new language is moving your lips in the correct way. This is a difficult thing to learn and to teach. One solution to this is software which tracks a student\u27s lip movements and provides feedback. This paper describes how we have created a C++ library to accurately track lips in provided images. Further, this library attempts to use a CUDA-enabled GPU implementation to improve the algorithm\u27s performance. It will fall back on a CPU implementation if such a GPU is not found. As a result, the lip tracking library runs on Windows, Linux, and OS X, as well as Android devices

Concert recording 2022-04-26

[Track 1]. The four seasons. La primavera, op. 8, no. 1. L\u27Estate, Op. 8, No. 2 ; L\u27Autunno, Op. 8, No. 3 ; L\u27Inverno, Op. 8, No. 4 / Antonio Vivaldi -- [Track 2]. Serenade for string orchestra, op. 48. I. Pezzo in forma di sonatina ; III. Elegie ; IV. Finale / Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

Concert recording 2022-04-26

[Track 1]. The four seasons. La primavera, op. 8, no. 1. L\u27Estate, Op. 8, No. 2 ; L\u27Autunno, Op. 8, No. 3 ; L\u27Inverno, Op. 8, No. 4 / Antonio Vivaldi -- [Track 2]. Serenade for string orchestra, op. 48. I. Pezzo in forma di sonatina ; III. Elegie ; IV. Finale / Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

APLIKASI TEORI PERILAKU TERENCANA: NIAT MELAKUKAN PHYSICAL EXERCISE (LATIHAN FISIK) PADA REMAJA DI SURABAYA

Alasan utama untuk rnengangkat topik ini dalarn penelitian ia1ah penulis berrnaksud untuk rneneliti variabel-variabel yang rnelatarbelakangi perilaku physical exercise yang dilakukan remaja di Surabaya. Tujuannya, peneliti ingin rnenguji apakah ada hubungan antara attitude towards behavior (A TB), subjective norm (SN), dan perceived behavioral control (PBC), baik secara bersama-sama maupun secara parsial, dengan niat berperilaku physical exercise (latihan fisik) pada remaja di Surabaya. Metode angket digunakan dalarn penelitian ini, rnenggunakan teknik penskalaan sernantik diferensial. Rernaja baik pria dan wanita (N=336) di kota Surabaya berpartisipasi dalarn penelitian ini. Hasil uji hipotesis rnenujukkan bahwa : {a). Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara ATB, SN, dan PBC, secara bersarna-sarna terhadap niat rnelakukan Physical exersice pada remaja (F = 14.233; p = 0,000). Hasil korelasi parsial menunjukkan ATB, dan SN menjadi prediktor paling kuat terhadap niat melaku.kan Physical Exercise, sedangkan PBC tidak

Entry of B Cell Receptor into Signaling Domains Is Inhibited in Tolerant B Cells

Signal transduction through the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) is altered in B cells that express a receptor that recognizes self-antigen. To understand the molecular basis for the change in signaling in autoreactive B cells, a transgenic model was used to isolate a homogeneous population of tolerant B lymphocytes. These cells were compared with a similar population of naive B lymphocytes. We show that the BCR from naive B cells enters a detergent-insoluble domain of the cell within 6 s after antigen binding, before a detectable increase in BCR phosphorylation. This fraction appears to be important for signaling because it is enriched for lyn kinase but lacks CD45 tyrosine phosphatase and because the BCR that moves into this domain becomes more highly phosphorylated. Partitioning of the BCR into this fraction is unaffected by src family kinase inhibition. Tolerant B cells do not efficiently partition the BCR into the detergent-insoluble domain, providing an explanation for their reduced tyrosine kinase activation and calcium flux in response to antigen. These results identify an early, regulated step in antigen receptor signaling and self-tolerance

Time-Resolved in Situ Visualization of the Structural Response of Zeolites During Catalysis

Zeolites are three-dimensional aluminosilicates having unique properties from the size and connectivity of their sub-nanometer pores, the Si/Al ratio of the anionic framework, and the charge-balancing cations. The inhomogeneous distribution of the cations affects their catalytic performances because it influences the intra-crystalline diffusion rates of the reactants and products. However, the structural deformation regarding inhomogeneous active regions during the catalysis is not yet observed by conventional analytical tools. Here we employ in situ X-ray free electron laser-based time-resolved coherent X-ray diffraction imaging to investigate the internal deformations originating from the inhomogeneous Cu ion distributions in Cu-exchanged ZSM-5 zeolite crystals during the deoxygenation of nitrogen oxides with propene. We show that the interactions between the reactants and the active sites lead to an unusual strain distribution, confirmed by density functional theory simulations. These observations provide insights into the role of structural inhomogeneity in zeolites during catalysis and will assist the future design of zeolites for their applications

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis