A note on rising food prices

The rapid rise in food prices has been a burden on the poor in developing countries, who spend roughly half of their household incomes on food. This paper examines the factors behind the rapid increase in internationally traded food prices since 2002 and estimates the contribution of various factors such as the increased production of biofuels from food grains and oilseeds, the weak dollar, and the increase in food production costs due to higher energy prices. It concludes that the most important factor was the large increase in biofuels production in the U.S. and the EU. Without these increases, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably, oilseed prices would not have tripled, and price increases due to other factors, such as droughts, would have been more moderate. Recent export bans and speculative activities would probably not have occurred because they were largely responses to rising prices. While it is difficult to compare the results of this study with those of other studies due to differences in methodologies, time periods and prices considered, many other studies have also recognized biofuels production as a major driver of food prices. The contribution of biofuels to the rise in food prices raises an important policy issue, since much of the increase was due to EU and U.S. government policies that provided incentives to biofuels production, and biofuels policies which subsidize production need to be reconsidered in light of their impact on food prices.Food&Beverage Industry,Markets and Market Access,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Economic Theory&Research,Renewable Energy

Sugar in the Caribbean : adjusting to eroding preferences

Sugar exporters of the Caribbean depend on preferential sales of sugar to the European Union and United States at prices that are two to three times the world market price. Without these preferences, sugar export revenues would decline significantly. These preferences are likely to erode in the next several years as the sugar programs of both the European Union and the United States are under pressure to reform as part of already agreed international commitments, internal pressures, and the ongoing Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. The European Commission has already proposed reforms that would reduce internal sugar prices by 39 percent, directly affecting Caribbean sugar exporters. This presents a serious challenge to the sugar producers of the Caribbean who are mostly high-cost producers who will find it difficult to compete in the world market. St. Kitts&Nevis have recently announced plans to close their sugar industry and Trinidad&Tobago began a major restructuring program in 2003. Other sugar producers of the Caribbean will need to become more competitive by reducing costs and adding value to their sugar industries through cogeneration of energy and other activities. Those that cannot reduce costs sufficiently will need to diversify into other crops, such as fruits, vegetables, and meats, for the growing local demand, the tourist industry, or export. International assistance will be important to help countries with these adjustments and the European Union has already proposed an adjustment program.Agribusiness&Markets,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Food&Beverage Industry,Agricultural Industry,Agricultural Trade

Sugar policies opportunity for change

Sugar is one of the most policy distorted of all commodities, and the European Union, Japan, and the United States are among the worst offenders. But internal changes in the E.U. and U.S. sugar and sweetener markets and international trade commitments make change unavoidable and provide the best opportunity for policy reform in several decades. The nature of reforms can have very different consequences for developing countries. If existing polices in the E.U. and the U.S. are adjusted to accommodate higher imports under international commitments, many low-cost producers, such as Brazil, will lose because they do not currently have large quotas and are not included among the preferential countries. The benefits of sugar policy reform are greatest under multilateral reform, and according to recent studies, the global welfare gains of removal of all trade protection are estimated to total as much as $4.7 billion a year. In countries with the highest protection (Indonesia, Japan, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the U.S.), net imports would increase by an estimated 15 million tons a year, which would create employment for nearly one million workers in developing countries. World sugar prices would increase by as much as 40 percent, while sugar prices in countries that heavily protect their markets would decline. Developing countries that have preferential access to the E.U. or U.S. sugar markets are likely to lose some of these preferences as sugar policies change. However, the value of preferential access is less than it appears because many of these producers have high production costs and would not produce at world market prices.Crops&Crop Management Systems,Food&Beverage Industry,Agricultural Industry,Agribusiness&Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agribusiness&Markets,Food&Beverage Industry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Trade

Body MRI artifacts in clinical practice: a physicist\u27s and radiologist\u27s perspective.

The high information content of MRI exams brings with it unintended effects, which we call artifacts. The purpose of this review is to promote understanding of these artifacts, so they can be prevented or properly interpreted to optimize diagnostic effectiveness. We begin by addressing static magnetic field uniformity, which is essential for many techniques, such as fat saturation. Eddy currents, resulting from imperfect gradient pulses, are especially problematic for new techniques that depend on high performance gradient switching. Nonuniformity of the transmit radiofrequency system constitutes another source of artifacts, which are increasingly important as magnetic field strength increases. Defects in the receive portion of the radiofrequency system have become a more complex source of problems as the number of radiofrequency coils, and the sophistication of the analysis of their received signals, has increased. Unwanted signals and noise spikes have many causes, often manifesting as zipper or banding artifacts. These image alterations become particularly severe and complex when they are combined with aliasing effects. Aliasing is one of several phenomena addressed in our final section, on artifacts that derive from encoding the MR signals to produce images, also including those related to parallel imaging, chemical shift, motion, and image subtraction

Henri Temianka Correspondence; (britten)

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/temianka_correspondence/2181/thumbnail.jp

Advancing Grounded Theory: Using Theoretical Frameworks within Grounded Theory Studies

The founding fathers of grounded theory (GT) claimed it is an inductive methodological approach. Yet, some scholars argue that purely inductive GTs are not possible given researchers’ involvement in data collection and analysis. Subsequently, a constructivist GT approach was introduced. Still, full-length methodological articles that include rationales or detailed explanations for using constructivist GT approaches are limited in peer-reviewed journals. The purpose of this article is to highlight the ways in which the author used a constructivist GT approach in his dissertation. Within the article, the author provides concrete examples and a rationale for the ways in which he used a theoretical framework within a constructivist GT study. First, the author introduces literature on GT. Next, the author introduces the theoretical framework used in the study, highlighting the introduction of a theoretical framework as a departure from the traditional tenets of GT. Finally, the author highlights the ways in which he used the theoretical framework to shape the research questions, data collection and analysis, and findings

Summer Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) Species Richness and Community Structure in the Lower Illinois River Basin of Illinois

Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) species richness is useful for monitoring stream health, but no published studies in Illinois quantitatively document EPT richness or assemblage structure. The objectives of this study were to characterize adult EPT richness and structure and relate these to relative water at eight stream sites (160-69,300 km3 area) in the lower Illinois River Adults were ultra-violet light trapped in June, July, and August 1997. Nutrient enrichment by nitrate and nitrite nitrogen was strongly evident, in smaller drainages, while critical loss of stable habitat was observed in water bodies. Seventy EPT species were identified from 17,889 specimens. Trichoptera were by far the most speciose (41 species), followed by Ephemeroptera (26), and Plecoptera (3). Caddisflies also dominated species richness across sites, contributing 18.0 of the average 28.9 total EPT species collected. Site EPT richness varied significantly (F =5.51, p 0.003, df 7), with smaller drainages supporting greater richness, generally. Differences were also evident for months (F = 21.7, p =0.0001, df =2), with June being lower (11.8 average) than either July (20.6) or August (18.1) values. Hilsenhoff biotic index (HBI) scores did not vary significantly across sites (F 0.7, p =0.7, df =7), but were different across months (F =5.4, p 0.02, df 2). June (4.23) and July (4.53) means were not different, but both were lower (of better quality) than August (5.33) scores. The relationship of EPT to HBI scores was not investigated statisti- cally due to problems of sample size and interdependance of monthly sam­ ples, but graphical analysis no consistent relationship. This sug- gested a decoupling of the the EPT and implied that the gain in taxonomic resolution achieved by adults outstripped the resolution of the HBI. Use of the HBI to characterize adult aquatic insect communities is discouraged. New state records and extensions for Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera are presented and loss of sensitive Plecoptera in the drainage is discussed