DERIVED DEMAND FOR WHEAT BY CLASS

To quantify price responsiveness and economic substitutability among wheat classes, derived demand functions were specified from a normalized quadratic profit function. Own-price and cross-price elasticities were estimated for hard red winter, hard red spring, soft wheat (combined red and white), and durum wheat. In general, soft wheat varieties were less responsive to their own price than were hard wheat varieties. Cross-price elasticities indicate that hard red winter wheat, hard red spring wheat, and soft wheat varieties are economic substitutes. Cross-price elasticities are different from those previously reported, which can have important policy implications.elasticities, normalized quadratic, substitution, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis,

The cradle of Sarawak’s oil industry and the Canadian ‘foreign drillers’

Miri is the second-largest city in Sarawak and has been recognised as home of the Malaysian oil and gas industry for well over a century. Oil was first struck on 10 October 1910 and Canada Hill, where the first well was located overlooking the small settlement at the time, was reportedly named in honour of a certain Mr. McAlpine, a Canadian employee of the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company who was the field manager in charge of the drilling. It is also speculated that the hill’s name was attributed to the team of Canadian drillers working in the local oil industry in the early days of Miri. Either way, the name stuck and that is how this prominent limestone ridge and famous Miri landmark obtained its name. In this article, Curtin Malaysia Borneo Studies lecturer Terry Justin Dit tells of the inimitable Canadian oil drillers who brought their expertise and skills in oil extraction and left their mark on Miri with the now famous Canada Hill overlooking Miri city named in their honour. He also relates how the knowledge and skills the locals gained from these early pioneers and later generations of oil and gas professionals resulted in Sarawak exporting its own expertise in the field to other parts of the worl

Containing COVID-19 risk in the UAE: Mass quarantine, mental health, and implications for crisis management

The COVID-19 pandemic is the first global “NASECH disaster,” owing to its natural hazard (NH) origin and unprecedented subsequent repercussions for global society (S), economy (EC), and health (H). Emergency health control measures required the implementation of compulsory mass quarantine (CMQ) or so-called periods of “lockdown.” Yet, CMQ is an instrument with iatrogenic consequences, associated with a rise in societal levels of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. With a view to informing future crisis management, the study investigated sociodemographic factors associated with mental wellbeing during the March–April 2020 lockdown in the United Arab Emirates. Respondents (n = 1585) completed self-report measures of depression (PHQ8) and generalized anxiety (GAD7). Rates of symptomatology were notably higher than those observed in similar UAE-based studies before the pandemic. Younger age, urban-dwelling, female-gender, and a history of mental health problems were significant factors linked to elevated levels of depression and anxiety. Findings emphasize (1) the crucial need for psychological intervention after disasters and (2) the importance of strengthening the nexus at the intersection of public health and disaster risk reduction (DRR). Implications are that future pandemic containment would benefit from adopting new Health–DRR paradigms and ensuring these are effectively translated into disaster policy

Rapid detection of Listeria monocytogenes in food using culture enrichment combined with real-time PCR.

A rapid method for the detection of Listeria monocytogenes in foods combining culture enrichment and real-time PCR was compared to the ISO 11290-1 standard method. The culture enrichment component of the rapid method is based on the ISO standard and includes 24h incubation in half-Fraser broth, 4h incubation in Fraser broth followed by DNA extraction and real-time PCR detection of the ssrA gene of L. monocytogenes. An internal amplification control, which is co-amplified with the same primers as the L. monocytogenes DNA, was also included in the assay. The method has a limit of detection of 1-5CFU/25g food sample and can be performed in 2 working days compared to up to 7days for the ISO standard. A variety of food samples from retail outlets and food processing plants (n=175) and controls (n=31) were tested using rapid and conventional methods. The rapid method was 99.44% specific, 96.15% sensitive and 99.03% accurate when compared to the standard method. This method has the potential to be used as an alternative to the standard method for food quality assurance providing rapid detection of L. monocytogenes in food

Would You Marry You? Black America & Marriage

Would You Marry You? Black America & Marriage - The lack of marriage is becoming an epidemic in the black community. In this PowerPoint based discussion we will go over the state of black marriage as we college students see it. We will also discuss the difference in the statistical upbringing of a child from a household with one parent compared to a child from a married household looking into the likelihood of going to prison, going to college, and getting married themselves. We will also take the time to turn the mirror on ourselves and ask the question, Would You Marry You

CATTLE RANCHING PRODUCTION AND MARKETING STRATEGIES UNDER COMBINED PRICE AND WEATHER RISKS

A procedure using linear programming and Bayesian analysis for incorporating risks associated with cattle prices and forage yields was developed for maximizing net ranch income in the Southern Plains of Texas. Risk-efficient production/marketing (buy/sell) strategies included strategies which assume normal and low cattle prices and low and normal forage production. Only one of the enterprises in the risk-efficient strategies constituted a traditional marketing approach of spring buying and fall selling.Livestock Production/Industries,

tmRNA - a novel high-copy-number RNA diagnostic target - its application for Staphylococcus aureus detection using real-time NASBA

A real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay, targeting tmRNA, was designed for the rapid identification of Staphylococcus aureus. The selectivity of the assay was confirmed against a panel of 76 Staphylococcus strains and species and 22 other bacterial species. A detection limit of 1 cell equivalent was determined for the assay. A chimeric in vitro transcribed internal amplification control was developed and included in the assay. Application of the assay in natural and artificially contaminated unpasteurized (raw) milk enabled detection of 1-10 CFUS. aureus mL(-1) in 3-4 h, without the need for culture enrichment. Staphylococcus aureus was detected in all artificially contaminated milk samples (n=20) and none of the natural milk samples (n=20). Microbiological analysis of the natural milk samples was performed in parallel according to ISO 6888-3 and confirmed the absence of S. aureus. The method developed in this study has the potential to enable the specific detection of S. aureus in raw milk in a significantly shorter time frame than current standard methods. The assay further demonstrates the usefulness of tmRNA/ssrA as a nucleic acid diagnostic target

Rapid de-localization of actin leading edge components with BDM treatment

BACKGROUND: 2,3-Butanedione monoxime (BDM) has been widely used as a non-muscle myosin inhibitor to investigate the role of non-muscle myosinII in the process of actin retrograde flow and other actin cytoskeletal processes. Recent reports show that BDM does not inhibit any non-muscle myosins so far tested, including nm-myosinII, prompting the question, how were these process affected in BDM studies? RESULTS: We have found that treatment of mammalian cells with BDM for only 1 min blocks actin incorporation at the leading edge in a permeabilized cell system. We show that inhibition of actin incorporation occurs through de-localization of leading edge proteins involved in actin polymerization – the Arp2/3 complex, WAVE, and VASP – that de-localize concomitantly with the leading edge actin network. CONCLUSION: De-localization of actin leading edge components by BDM treatment is a newly described effect of this compound. It may explain many of the results previously ascribed to inhibition of non-muscle myosinII by BDM, particularly in studies of leading edge dynamics. Though this effect of BDM is intriguing, future studies probing actin dynamics at the leading edge should use more potent and specific inhibitors