bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Politics and Food Insecurity in Africa
Authors: Paarlberg Robert L. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractFood security circumstances are improving in every region of the world except in Africa, where they have been progressively worsening. One food security challenge for analysts in the twenty‐first century may be to stop thinking globally and spend more time thinking about Africa, where the largest problems will lie. The discovery that Africa's weak policy performance in the food and farm sector may be in part an outgrowth of its greater ethnic diversity, compounded by political malfunctions that date from a colonial history of externally imposed state formation is an inconvenient one for the economist.
Strategy and Etiquette for Graduate Students Entering the Academic Job Market
Authors: Shively Gerald , Woodward Richard , Stanley Denise 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThis article highlights important issues for graduate students seeking academic employment in agricultural economics. Emphasis is placed on developing a strategy to provide clear and reliable signals that the candidate will be a successful assistant professor, not just a successful graduate student. Publishing, teaching, and grant writing are identified as three important areas in which credible signals must be delivered. Advice regarding the interview process is also provided.
Who Will Our Students Be? A Futuristic View
Authors: Weldon Richard N. , Covington Bea , Long Burl F. , Connor Larry J. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractAgricultural and applied economics departments must continue to develop and market programs that meet the educational needs of students. This article examines the current composite of students and degree programs. It then goes on to describe our future students and degree programs and examines distance education programs and delivery methods that will be used to reach these students. New degree programs will be offered in agribusiness and resource economics, mostly at the M.S. level. It is apparent that in the future, departments will teach increasing numbers of students at off‐campus locations. The profession will experience major growth in distance education programs using a wide variety of delivery methods.
Perceptions of Extension and Research Marketing Economists
Authors: Parcell Joe L. , Schroeder Ted C. , Kastens Terry L. , Dhuyvetter Kevin C. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThis research examined whether university extension and research marketing economists have similar or different views regarding marketing strategies, price forecasts, and futures market efficiency. Results from surveys conducted of extension and research marketing economists found that perceptions differed in seven of twelve questions posed to both groups. Three important findings of this study were (a) that both groups tended to not believe in the efficient market hypothesis, (b) that extension and researchers disagreed as to whether marketing strategies should be based on statistically significant findings, and (c) that extension and research economists rarely collaborate.
Contractual Relations, Control, and Quality in the Hog Sector
Authors: Hennessy David A. , Lawrence John D. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractAgricultural production, especially hog production, is undergoing brisk reorganization. Production and marketing contracts are attenuating the control and property rights of growers. In seeking reasons for the restructuring, this paper surveys the opinions of industry participants. It then places these opinions in the context of existing theories on the nature of the firm subject to vertical production/processing inter dependencies. Special attention is devoted to contract specifications and their relationships with control and quality.
Evolution of Agricultural Land Leasing Models: A Survey of the Literature
Authors: Dasgupta Siddhartha , Knight Thomas O. , Love H. Alan 
Published: June 2006

AbstractIssues relating to agricultural tenancy have been viewed as important economic questions since the early writings of Smith and Mill. At the close of the twentieth century, interest in these issues remains strong. In developing countries with agrarian economies, this interest is stimulated by the perceived importance of land lease arrangements in either fostering or impeding economic development. In the United States, where the proportion of farmland operated under lease arrangements has increased from 35% in 1950 to 43% in 1992 (USDA 1992), concern focuses on efficiency of resource use and issues such as effects of absentee landownership and tenant farming on the adoption of soil‐conserving production practices.
A Comparison of Fiscal Consequences for Tax and Expenditure Limitation Proposals
Authors: Edelman Mark A. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThree constitutional tax and expenditure limitation proposals are analyzed for historical consequences. The first and second allowed 32% less state spending and $710 million less in local government aid compared to actual. The first proposal also imposed limits on local government units and allowed property taxes to increase about 5% more than actual. The second proposal covered state revenues only and would have required a 29.7% increase in property taxes to fully replace the reduction in local government aid. A third proposal excluded local government aid but effectively covered only half of the state general fund revenues.
Policy Implications of New Grain and Oilseed Market Structures for Quality
Authors: Jones Eluned , Mercier Stephanie 
Published: June 2006

AbstractPublic agencies have the mandate to determine the point of intervention and delineation in balancing the equity between private information (and potential market power) and the public right to information. Symmetry of information availability will increasingly favor those who have access to alternative market structures. Therefore, producers' future competitiveness depends on public policy decisions with respect to the amount and form of, as well as access to, accurate, objective, and consistent information. Consequently, the role of public agencies may need to be clarified and redefined, given the implied functional changes and the expanded need for multiagency coordination.
Estimating the Effects of Relaxing Agricultural Land Use Restrictions: Wetland Delineation in the Swampbuster Program
Authors: Claassen Roger , Heimlich Ralph E. , House Robert M. , Wiebe Keith D. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractWetland protection is an issue of ongoing debate. Although it is widely agreed that wetland loss to agriculture has been declining in recent decades, the role of policy remains contentious. We analyze the effect of changes in wetland delineation rules that were proposed but rejected by Congress during the 1996 farm bill debate. Our research combines detailed, site‐specific information on wetlands with a broader model of the agricultural economy. Using site‐specific data, we analyze the potential agricultural profitability of a representative sample of actual wetlands. We estimate wetland acreage that would have been exempted from swampbuster and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act under the proposed delineation changes, the acreage of exempted wetland that could be profitably converted to crop production, and the associated commodity price, crop acreage, and farm income effects. We find that up to 82.7 million wetland acres would be exempted under the proposed delineation changes, of which as many as 12 million acres could be profitably converted to crop production. This conversion would have a dampening effect on commodity price and farm income. We conclude that (a accurately estimating the effect of resource policy depends critically on detailed information on resource quality and (b) commodity price and farm income effects imply that all agriculture producers—not only those who could expand cropland acreage through wetland drainage—have a stake in wetland policy.
Deterministic Modeling without (Unwarranted) Apology
Authors: Huffaker Ray G. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThe risk literature in agricultural economics asserts that deterministic methods ignore important sources of uncertainty, and thus strongly discourages their use to model economic behavior, performance, and welfare. This paper applies principles of randomness drawn from the philosophy of science literature to investigate this assertion and to formulate proper implications for the appropriate use of deterministic methods under uncertainty. The results specify the circumstances under which a deterministic approach offers a scientifically credible alternative to a probabilistic approach in accounting for uncertainty.
What Does It Take for a Market to Function?
Authors: Davidson Jeff , Weersink Alfons 
Published: June 2006

AbstractMarkets are intricate webs of institutions and social arrangements that have evolved so that transactions can take place at minimum cost. Markets fail to evolve when the uncertainty that surrounds the transaction causes costs to outweigh the benefits of the exchange. If market failure caused by a missing market is to be corrected, the goal of the new market must be to minimize the transaction costs of exchange. The literature offers few suggestions for the conditions necessary for a market to function. The objective of this paper is to specify these necessary conditions by defining what a market really is, identifying characteristics of properly functioning markets, and describing design lessons learned from recent attempts at creating markets in alternative contexts. The paper concludes with a synthesized set of criteria necessary for a market to function.
Private Open Space and Public Concerns
Authors: McLeod Donald , Woirhaye Jodie , Kruse Carol , Menkhaus Dale 
Published: June 2006

AbstractAgricultural lands provide open space, which is valuable as wildlife habitat, as a visual resource, and as access to public lands. Sublette County, WY, is the basis for a case study relevant to rural land use planning. A mail survey provided responses from landowners and other residents. Agricultural land uses and public involvement in land use planning were approved. Land use controls including zoning were accepted. Differences existed between residents and nonresidents regarding personal income, local employment, the future importance of extractive industries, and the reasons for living in the county.
Tung Oil: A Revival
Authors: Carter Courtney , House Lisa , Little Randy 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThis case illustrates the difficult financial decisions that exist in agriculture. A small group of farmers are considering planting tung nut trees on their land. Historical information about the tung nut industry is included as background. Because tung nuts are grown on trees, farmers deciding to invest in tung orchards must wait years for a return on investment. Instructors can use this case to aid in teaching financial topics, such as net present value, simple rate of return, and other financial measures. Other issues also could be explored, including risk, marketing channels, business planning, and alternative agricultural crops.
Identification of powdery mildew (Erysiphe graminis sp. tritici) and take-all disease (Gaeumannomyces graminis sp. tritici) in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) by means of leaf reflectance measurements
Authors: Graeff Simone , Link Johanna , Claupein Wilhelm 
Published: June 2006

Abstract
The ability to identify diseases in an early infection stage and to accurately quantify the severity of infection is crucial in plant disease assessment and management. A greenhouse study was conducted to assess changes in leaf spectral reflectance of wheat plants during infection by powdery mildew and take-all disease to evaluate leaf reflectance measurements as a tool to identify and quantify disease severity and to discriminate between different diseases. Wheat plants were inoculated under controlled conditions in different intensities either with powdery mildew or take-all. Leaf reflectance was measured with a digital imager (Leica S1 Pro, Leica, Germany) under controlled light conditions in various wavelength ranges covering the visible and the near-infrared spectra (380–1300 nm). Leaf scans were evaluated by means of L*a*b*-color system. Visual estimates of disease severity were made for each of the epidemics daily from the onset of visible symptoms to maximum disease severity. Reflectance within the ranges of 490780 nm (r2 = 0.69), 510780nm (r2 = 0.74), 5161300nm (r2 = 0.62) and 5401300 nm (r2 = 0.60) exhibited the strongest relationship with infection levels of both powdery mildew and take-all disease. Among the evaluated spectra the range of 490780nm showed most sensitive response to damage caused by powdery mildew and take-all infestation. The results of this study indicated that disease detection and discrimination by means of reflectance measurements may be realized by the use of specific wavelength ranges. Further studies have to be carried out, to discriminate powdery mildew and take-all infection from other plant stress factors in order to develop suitable decision support systems for site-specific fungicide application.
Effect of volume decrease on fluidization quality of fluidized catalyst beds
Authors: Kai T. , Toriyama K. , Nishie K. , Takahashi T. , Nakajima M. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThe fluidization quality significantly decreased when the reaction involving a decrease in the gas volume was carried out in a fluidized catalyst bed. In the present study, we carried out the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide in a transparent column to observe the bed behavior. When the reaction rate was increased, the fluidity of the emulsion phase decreased and channeling occurred. When the fluidity of the emulsion phase decreased even further, the upper part of the bed was defluidized and this part was lifted up through the column. This phenomenon caused the entrainment of a large amount of catalyst particles from the reactor. We studied the effects of the reduction rate of the gas volume and the maximum gas contraction ratio on the fluidization behavior. The criterion for a stable operation, which could be successfully given by the gas‐volume reduction rate, is useful for determining the operating conditions needed to establish good fluidization when the reactions involving a decrease in the gas volume are carried out in a fluidized catalyst bed. © 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2006
The Route to the Structure Determination of Amorphous Solids: A Case Study of the Ceramic Si3B3N7
Authors: Jansen Martin , Schön J. Christian , van Wüllen Leo 
Published: June 2006

AbstractSi3B3N7 is the parent compound of a new class of amorphous ceramics containing silicon, boron, nitrogen, and carbon that display a unique spectrum of properties. It consists of a random network in which the constituent elements are linked by predominantly covalent bonds. Similarly to quartz glass, the composition of amorphous Si3B3N7 is virtually stoichiometric. As all three of its constituent elements can serve as the objects of various structural probes, Si3B3N7 was selected as the basis of a systematic structural investigation, in which methods for the structure determination of solids without translational symmetry could be validated and improved. However, as the complete amorphous structure cannot be deduced from experimental data, these results must be complemented by computer simulations. Thus, five classes of structure models were generated and compared to experimental results. Only the models generated by following the actual synthesis route as closely as possible agreed well with the experimental data.
Role of anatomy in our contemporary age and the history of the Anatomy Museum of Naples
Authors: Esposito Vincenzo , Chiapparo Simona 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThis work analyzes the significance of anatomical knowledge in the contemporary age through the history of a prestigious institution, the Anatomy Museum of Naples. The museum's past was ineluctably linked not only to the local sociopolitical events but also to the scientific developments of medicine. The museum is an academic place where the importance of the anatomic science in the contemporary age both in the scientific and in the cultural fora is evident. Anat Rec (Part B: New Anat) 289B:92–97, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Patterns of care for men with prostate cancer after failure of primary treatment
Authors: Krupski Tracey L. , Saigal Christopher S. , Hanley Janet , Schonlau Matthias , Litwin Mark S. ,   for the Urologic Diseases in America Project
Published: June 2006

AbstractBACKGROUND.This study sought to determine trends in patterns of care after failure of primary prostate cancer treatment and to determine whether nonclinical factors influenced the receipt of secondary treatment.METHODS.The authors identified individuals treated for nonmetastatic prostate cancer in the years 1991–1999 from the linked databases of Medicare and the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry. The outcome of interest was receipt of secondary therapy. They performed Cox proportional hazard analyses to investigate the link between demographic and clinical characteristics and the likelihood of receiving secondary treatment after either surgery or radiation.RESULTS.Of 65,716 subjects who met our inclusion criteria, 10,200 (15%) received some form of secondary therapy. For men undergoing initial surgical or radiation therapy, tumor grade, year of diagnosis, and geographic region were associated with secondary therapy. No socioeconomic factors such as education, ethnicity, or income level were associated with secondary therapy.CONCLUSIONS.Patterns of care after primary prostate cancer therapy continue to vary regionally. Standardized clinical algorithms and utilization of prostate‐specific antigen testing appear to have influenced secondary therapy rates. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.
A 1HMRS study of the anterior cingulate gyrus in euthymic bipolar patients
Authors: de M. S. Amaral Jose Antonio , Tamada Renata S. , Issler Cilly K. , Caetano Sheila C. , Cerri Giovanni G. , de Castro Claudio C. , Lafer Beny 
Published: June 2006

AbstractIntroductionThe anterior cingulate region has been implicated in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. Studies have reported anatomical and functional abnormalities in this region in bipolar disorder patients. Few neurochemical studies have evaluated this region, especially on medicated bipolar patients. Lithium has been reported to increase NAA levels but not by all studies. We used proton magnetic spectroscopy (1HMRS) to measure the levels of N‐acetyl‐L‐aspartate (NAA) and choline (Cho) relative to creatine (Cr) in the anterior cingulate of euthymic medicated bipolar subjects.Methods1HMRS was performed using a GE Signa 1.5 Tesla scanner in 13 euthymic bipolar patients who were taking lithium for at least four weeks before the scan and in 15 normal controls. The 1HMRS signal was collected from an 8 cm3 voxel placed in the anterior cingulate. Data analysis was performed with the automated PROBE/SV quantification tool.ResultsNAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratios were not significantly different between patients and controls (NAA/Cr: 1.60 ± 0.34 in patients, 1.68 ± 0.34 in controls; Cho/Cr: 1.13 ± 0.13 in patients, 1.11 ± 0.20 in controls).ConclusionsWe did not find a significant difference in the NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratio between bipolar patients and healthy controls. Chronic administration of psychotropic drugs could have had an effect on NAA/Cr levels of bipolar patients. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Differences in cognitive factors between “true drug” versus “placebo pattern” response to fluoxetine as defined by pattern analysis
Authors: Farabaugh Amy H. , Sonawalla Shamsah B. , Fava Maurizio , Pedrelli Paola , Papakostas George I. , Schwartz Faye , Mischoulon David 
Published: June 2006

AbstractObjectivePattern analysis has identified two types of response patterns to antidepressants: “true drug” response (TDR) and “placebo pattern” response (PPR). This study examines the relationship between cognitive factors and TDR and PPR to fluoxetine.MethodsWe assessed 310 outpatients meeting DSM‐III‐R criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) who were enrolled in an 8‐week open trial of fluoxetine 20 mg/day. Response patterns were determined using the clinical global impressions‐improvement (CGI‐I). We administered the following self‐rated scales to all patients at the baseline visit and at endpoint: perceived stress scale (PSS), cognitions questionnaire (CQ), Beck hopelessness scale (BHS) and dysfunctional attitudes scale (DAS).ResultsOne hundred and thirty‐four patients had TDR, 66 patients had PPR, and 110 patients were non‐responders (NR). Demographic variables and severity of depression at baseline (HAMD‐17) were not significantly different between the two response pattern groups. We compared cognitive factors before and after treatment across patients with TDR and PPR, and there were no significant differences at baseline in CQ, PSS, BHS, and DAS scores. At endpoint, outpatients with PPR had significantly lower scores on the PSS (p < 0.001) compared to the patients with TDR, even after adjusting for multiple comparisons and severity of depression at endpoint.ConclusionsSignificant differences in cognitive/psychological factors, specifically lower post‐treatment perceived stress, accompany “placebo” pattern of response to antidepressant treatment and differentiate it from “true drug” response pattern, as defined by pattern analysis. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A gene regulation system with four distinct expression levels
Authors: Krueger Christel , Danke Christina , Pfleiderer Klaus , Schuh Wolfgang , Jäck Hans‐Martin , Lochner Susanne , Gmeiner Peter , Hillen Wolfgang , Berens Christian 
Published: June 2006

AbstractBackgroundThe amount of a particular protein, and not just its presence or absence, frequently determines the outcome of a developmental process or disease progression. These dosage effects can be studied by conditionally expressing such proteins at different levels. With typical gene regulation systems like the Tet‐On system, intermediate expression levels can be obtained by varying the effector concentration. However, this strategy is limited to situations in which these concentrations can be precisely controlled and, thus, not suited for animal models or gene therapy approaches. Here, we present a Tet transregulator setup that allows establishment of four levels of promoter activity largely independent of effector concentration.MethodsA newly introduced transsilencer is combined with a reverse transactivator. As the regulators respond differentially to tetracycline derivatives, four expression levels are obtained by adding different effectors. To facilitate integration of the components, we generated versatile all‐in‐one vectors. Apart from a cassette expressing the transregulators and a selection marker, these vectors encode a bidirectional, regulated promoter driving expression of GFP and the gene of interest. The features of this stepwise regulation system were analyzed by transient and stable transfections of human cell lines.ResultsWe demonstrate in a variety of experimental settings that coexpression of these transregulators leads to robust stepwise regulation. Depending on the respective effectors, four expression levels are achieved with different responsive promoters, cell lines and target genes.ConclusionsThis system shows that a promoter can be adjusted to different activities and provides an excellent strategy to investigate protein dosage effects. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.