The Financial Value of Champagne Houses in a Cobweb Economy

The objective of the paper is to simulate the corporate value of Champagne makers by taking into account the Champagne market evolution. These measurements are conducted by linking financial debt, performance and valuation to a vertical coordination model of production-consumption within a cobweb economy. The overall model uses the dynamic structure that underlies the strategic interactions amongst grape producers and wine makers. These segments coordinate grape production and trade by forming expectations about final consumption, price and stock risks. The paper examines the dynamics of the financial cash flows and net worth of Champagne houses for the 1977 – 2003 period using system dynamics (SD) modeling principles. The results presented in this paper report on key financial indicators for that period for financial debt, performance and valuation of Champagne makers. It provides a sound basis to pursue this work, because the model can further enhanced to anticipate the possible value Champagne makers for the coming crucial years since the Champagne appellation has reached its geographical limit determined by the protected designation of origin (PDO), while worldwide demand continues to grow.financial valuation, vertical coordination, cobweb economy, system dynamics, price expectations, Champagne, wine, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

Killing and replacing queen-laid eggs: low cost of worker policing in the honey bee

Worker honeybees, Apis mellifera, police each other’s reproduction by killing worker-laid eggs. Previous experiments demonstrated that worker policing is effective, killing most (∼98%) worker-laid eggs. However, many queen-laid eggs were also killed (∼50%) suggesting that effective policing may have high costs. In these previous experiments, eggs were transferred using forceps into test cells, mostly into unrelated discriminator colonies. We measured both the survival of unmanipulated queen-laid eggs and the proportion of removal errors that were rectified by the queen laying a new egg. Across 2 days of the 3-day egg stage, only 9.6% of the queen-laid eggs in drone cells and 4.1% in worker cells were removed in error. When queen-laid eggs were removed from cells, 85% from drone cells and 61% from worker cells were replaced within 3 days. Worker policing in the honeybee has a high benefit to policing workers because workers are more related to the queen’s sons (brothers, r = 0.25) than sister workers’ sons (0.15). This study shows that worker policing also has a low cost in terms of the killing of queen-laid eggs, as only a small proportion of queen-laid eggs are killed, most of which are rapidly replaced

Quantification of chemotaxis-related alkane accumulation in Acinetobacter baylyi using Raman microspectroscopy

Alkanes are one of the most widespread contaminants in the natural environment, primarily as a consequence of biological synthesis and oil spills. Many indigenous microbes metabolize alkanes, and alkane chemotaxis and accumulation in some strains have been identified. For the first time, we apply Raman microspectroscopy to identify such chemotaxis and bioaccumulation, and quantify the alkane concentrations via spectral alterations. Raman spectral alterations were only found for the alkane chemo-attractant bacteria Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1, not for Pseudomonas fluorescence, which exhibits limited chemotaxis towards alkane. The significant alterations were attributed to the strong chemotactic ability of A. baylyi enhancing the capture and accumulation of alkane molecules on cell membranes or cellular internalization. Spectral fingerprints of A. baylyi significantly altered after 1-h exposure to pure alkanes (dodecane or tetradecane) and alkane mixtures (mineral oil or crude oil), but not monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs) or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A semi-log linear regression relationship between Raman spectral alterations and alkane concentrations showed its feasibility in quantifying alkane concentration in environmental samples. Pure alkanes or alkane mixtures exhibited different limits of detection and regression slopes, indicating that the chemotaxis and bioaccumulation of alkanes in A. baylyi is dependent on the carbon chain length. This work provides a novel biospectroscopy approach to characterize alkane chemotaxis and/or bioaccumulation, and has immense potential for fast and high-throughput screening bacterial chemotaxis

Revising an Extension Education Website for Limited Resource Audiences Using Social Marketing Theory

Spend Smart Eat Smart (SSES), a unique website combining nutrition and food buying education for limited resource audiences (LRAs), was revised using social marketing theory to make it more appealing and relevant to LRAs (25-40 years). Focus groups and surveys identified the needs and preferences of LRAs. Needs were cooking, basic health, and budget-friendly nutrition ideas. Preferences were limited text, more videos, graphics, and color. Usability testing of the revised site indicated users perceived the information valuable and the design appealing. By incorporating the needs and preferences of LRAs, SSES is now perceived as appealing as well as relevant

Consumer-Centered Extension Education Website Increases Usage

Concern about young families\u27 ability to cope with rising food prices resulted in creating Spend Smart. Eat Smart (SSES), a website focused on budgetfriendly nutrition information for limited resource audiences (LRA). SSES was redesigned using LRAs needs and preferences to increase use by LRAs. SSES usage increased after it was revised to incorporate interactivity and more consumerfriendly design elements

Effect of trail bifurcation asymmetry and pheromone presence or absence on trail choice by Lasius niger ants

During foraging, ant workers are known to make use of multiple information sources, such as private information (personal memory) and social information (trail pheromones). Environmental effects on foraging, and how these interact with other information sources, have, however, been little studied. One environmental effect is trail bifurcation asymmetry. Ants forage on branching trail networks and must often decide which branch to take at a junction (bifurcation). This is an important decision, as finding food sources relies on making the correct choices at bifurcations. Bifurcation angle may provide important information when making this choice. We used a Y-maze with a pivoting 90° bifurcation to study trail choice of Lasius niger foragers at varying branch asymmetries (0°, [both branches 45° from straight ahead], 30° [branches at 30° and 60° from straight ahead], 45°, 60° and 90° [one branch straight ahead, the other at 90°]). The experiment was carried out either with equal amounts of trail pheromone on both branches of the bifurcation or with pheromone present on only one branch. Our results show that with equal pheromone, trail asymmetry has a significant effect on trail choice. Ants preferentially follow the branch deviating least from straight, and this effect increases as asymmetry increases (47% at 0°, 54% at 30°, 57% at 45°, 66% at 60° and 73% at 90°). However, when pheromone is only present on one branch, the graded effect of asymmetry disappears. Overall, however, there is an effect of asymmetry as the preference of ants for the pheromone-marked branch over the unmarked branch is reduced from 65%, when it is the less deviating branch, to 53%, when it is the more deviating branch. These results demonstrate that trail asymmetry influences ant decision-making at bifurcations and that this information interacts with trail pheromone presence in a non-hierarchical manner

Detecting nutrient deficiency in plant systems using synchrotron Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy

By 2050, it is estimated that the global population will have surpassed 9 billion people, presenting a significant challenge with regards to food security. In order to provide sufficient quantities of nutritious food in the future, it is necessary to improve agricultural productivity by up to 70%. Nutrient deficiencies are one particular threat to food security that can have a negative impact on crop yield and quality. Currently the standard agricultural approach to prevention is to supply an excess macronutrient fertiliser, such as nitrate or phosphate, during crop production. However, the efficiency of this approach is poor as deficiencies of specific nutrients, such as Ca, are not prevented in this circumstance, and fertiliser use is associated with a host of adverse environmental impacts. Herein, we describe a novel method to detect Ca deficiency using synchrotron radiation-based Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy in live and fixed tissue of the model plant Commelina communis, as a precursor to targeted nutrient remediation in the field

A three-dimensional principal component analysis approach for exploratory analysis of hyperspectral data: identification of ovarian cancer samples based on Raman microspectroscopy imaging of blood plasma

Hyperspectral imaging is a powerful tool to obtain both chemical and spatial information of biological systems. However, few algorithms are capable of working with full three-dimensional images, in which reshaping or averaging procedures are often performed to reduce the data complexity. Herein, we propose a new algorithm of three-dimensional principal component analysis (3D-PCA) for exploratory analysis of complete 3D spectrochemical images obtained through Raman microspectroscopy. Blood plasma samples of ten patients (5 healthy controls, 5 diagnosed with ovarian cancer) were analysed by acquiring hyperspectral imaging in the fingerprint region (∼780–1858 cm−1). Results show that 3D-PCA can clearly differentiate both groups based on its scores plot, where higher loadings coefficients were observed in amino acids, lipids and DNA regions. 3D-PCA is a new methodology for exploratory analysis of hyperspectral imaging, providing fast information for class differentiation

Diagnose Pathogens in Drinking Water via Magnetic Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) Assay

Rapid identification and diagnosis of bacteria and other microorganisms is a great challenge for drinking water safety due to the increasing frequency of pathogenic infections. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive tool to characterize the biochemical fingerprints of bacterial cells and its signal can be improved by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Thus, Raman scattering has a huge potential in fast diagnosis of pathogens in drinking water, with low cost and high reproducibility. In this work, we developed a novel fast diagnosis method to detect aquatic pathogens via magnetic SERS assay. With chemical coprecipitation synthesis and surface glucose reduction, the silver-coated magnetic nanoparticles (Ag@MNPs) had a welldeveloped core-shell structure and high efficiency to capture bacterial cells. Ag@MNPs achieved 103 enhancement factor for rhodamine 6G and the limit of detection was 10-9 M. The magnetic SERS assay also successfully detected various bacteria (A. baylyi and E. coli) with high sensitivity (105 CFU/mL). This platform provided a promising and easy-operation approach for pathogen detection for food and drinking water safety

Inorganic nitrogen availability alters Eucalyptus grandis receptivity to the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus albus but not symbiotic nitrogen transfer.

Forest trees are able to thrive in nutrient-poor soils in part because they obtain growth-limiting nutrients, especially nitrogen (N), through mutualistic symbiosis with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. Addition of inorganic N into these soils is known to disrupt this mutualism and reduce the diversity of ECM fungi. Despite its ecological impact, the mechanisms governing the observed effects of elevated inorganic N on mycorrhizal communities remain unknown. We address this by using a compartmentalized in vitro system to independently alter nutrients to each symbiont. Using stable isotopes, we traced the nutrient flux under different nutrient regimes between Eucalyptus grandis and its ectomycorrhizal symbiont, Pisolithus albus. We demonstrate that giving E. grandis independent access to N causes a significant reduction in root colonization by P. albus. Transcriptional analysis suggests that the observed reduction in colonization may be caused, in part, by altered transcription of microbe perception genes and defence genes. We show that delivery of N to host leaves is not increased by host nutrient deficiency but by fungal nutrient availability instead. Overall, this advances our understanding of the effects of N fertilization on ECM fungi and the factors governing nutrient transfer in the E. grandis-P. microcarpus interaction