The Economic Impacts of GM Contamination Incidents on the Organic Sector

This paper examines the economic impact of GM co-existence on the global organic sector to date through GM contamination of organic food and crops. A total of 15 GM contamination incidents in the organic sector are identified, occurring either from cross-pollination from GM crops being grown in the area or due to contamination in the post-harvest supply chain. The financial losses incurred by organic farmers and food companies due to GM contamination are considerable, through lost markets, lost sales, lower prices, negative publicity, withdrawal of organic certification and product recalls. It is important that co-existence regimes address all of these impacts, with the GM sector being held accountabl

When private set intersection meets big data : an efficient and scalable protocol

Large scale data processing brings new challenges to the design of privacy-preserving protocols: how to meet the increasing requirements of speed and throughput of modern applications, and how to scale up smoothly when data being protected is big. Efficiency and scalability become critical criteria for privacy preserving protocols in the age of Big Data. In this paper, we present a new Private Set Intersection (PSI) protocol that is extremely efficient and highly scalable compared with existing protocols. The protocol is based on a novel approach that we call oblivious Bloom intersection. It has linear complexity and relies mostly on efficient symmetric key operations. It has high scalability due to the fact that most operations can be parallelized easily. The protocol has two versions: a basic protocol and an enhanced protocol, the security of the two variants is analyzed and proved in the semi-honest model and the malicious model respectively. A prototype of the basic protocol has been built. We report the result of performance evaluation and compare it against the two previously fastest PSI protocols. Our protocol is orders of magnitude faster than these two protocols. To compute the intersection of two million-element sets, our protocol needs only 41 seconds (80-bit security) and 339 seconds (256-bit security) on moderate hardware in parallel mode

Profiling the Evolving Characteristics and Needs for Risk Management Education of Commercial Agricultural Producers in the Intermountain West

The rural West has experienced dramatic demographic and economic transformations during the past several decades. The makeup of farm operators has changed significantly, and enterprises are increasingly at greater production, financial, marketing, human, and institutional risks. Given the importance of university outreach education to the future of agriculture, a better understanding of farm operators, including what they perceive to be the greatest threats to their operations, is required to effectively design risk management education. This project has resulted in improved understanding of agricultural producer needs for risk management education, through the results of two surveys completed over the past three years. These surveys targeted both small (<$50,000 ag sales) and large (>$50,000 ag sales) operators across three western states (WY, CO, and AZ). Results are generally much more descriptive of the educational needs, as well as suggesting mechanisms for delivery for Extension workers and others than the results available from the general agricultural census. More information at: http://RuralFamilyVentures.org.agricultural producer profile, risk management education, rural enterprises, western agriculture, rural family ventures, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Enterprising Rural Families: Making It Work

Enterprising Rural Families (ERFTM) is an international course for the rural family in business. ERFTM teaches a process of finding success, resilience and satisfaction for rural families engaged in enterprises; including agriculture. Instructors from the United States, Canada and Australia have teamed together to offer this course that focuses on the three main components of a family business: individuals, the family unit and the business enterprise. This course also allows families in business to increase their awareness of cultural differences and similarities and improve their understanding of global issues. The course consists of written presentations, online chat sessions, threaded discussions, readings, videos, case studies and individual projects. Using these mechanisms, the online interaction provides rural families with both the tools and skills to resolve immediate family business issues and build a profitable business for the future.Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management,

5'-terminal structure of poliovirus polyribosomal RNA is pUp

Poliovirus RNA purified from virus-specific polyribosomes does not contain m7G in a 5'-5'-pyrophosphate linkage at its 5'-end. The only potential 5'-end found in ribonuclease digests of this RNA is pUp, which is present in a yield of 1 mole/mole of poliovirus RNA. We conclude that a 5'-terminal m7G is not required for translation of at least one RNA species in animal cells

HCI practices and the work of information architects

We interviewed 26 information architects about their work, their backgrounds and their perceptions of their roles as information architects. Our research aimed to identify and understand the work practices that define the position of information architect as well as the human-computer interaction and usability issues that are relevant to their work. Our findings show that the work practices of information architects are far broader than those included in the popular technology design literature. A major issue that emerged from the research was the ongoing struggle of information architects to bring user-centred design methods into the design and development processes used in their organisations. A thorough knowledge of human-computer interaction and usability principles increased the ability of individual information architects to influence design processes. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004

OPPORTUNITY COSTS OF WATER LEASING: IRRIGATION, INSTREAM FLOW, AND WETLAND CONSIDERATIONS IN THE LARAMIE BASIN, WYOMING

Flood irrigation in the Laramie Basin of southeast Wyoming has created many wetlands that rely directly on irrigation inputs for water. The Laramie Basin is a proposed water source for enhancing Platte River instream flows, to the benefit of endangered cranes, terns, plovers, and sturgeons. Increasing irrigation efficiency, or retiring irrigated lands would transform Laramie Basin agriculture and cause a high fraction of the Basins wetlands to be lost. This study explores the limitations of traditional water transfer tools when regional instream-flow requirements compete for water with local irrigation-dependent wetlands. A rotating short-term water lease program is proposed. The program would allow Laramie Basin producers to contribute to instream flow without causing permanent wetland damage or loss. Short-term water leasing programs could allow agricultural communities to contribute to regional environmental water needs without sacrificing local, agriculturally-based ecological resources. An estimate of minimum water costs, advantages and disadvantages of short-term water leasing are discussed.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

LABOR MANAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURE: A CRITICAL MANAGEMENT FUNCTION

Labor and Human Capital,

Effects of Reapeated Doses of Caffeine on Performance and Alertness: New Data and Secondary Analyses

Rationale The effects of caffeine on mood and performance are well established. Some authors suggest that caffeine merely reverses effects of caffeine withdrawal rather than having direct behavioural effects. It has also been suggested that withdrawal may be removed by a first dose of caffeine and further doses have little subsequent effect. These issues were examined here. Objectives The present study aimed to determine whether caffeine withdrawal influenced mood and performance by comparing regular consumers who had been withdrawn from caffeine overnight with non-consumers. Following this repeated caffeine doses were administered to test the claim that repeated dosing has no extra effect on mood or performance. Secondary analyses of a data collected by Christopher et al. (2003) were also carried out to examine some alternative explanations of their results which showed effects of caffeine after a day of normal caffeine consumption. Methods One hundred and twenty volunteers participated in the study. Regular caffeine consumption was assessed by questionnaire and this showed that thirty six of the sample did not regularly consume caffeinated beve rages. Volunteers were instructed to abstain from caffeine overnight and then completed a baseline session measuring mood and a range of cognitive functions at 08.00 the next day. Following this volunteers were given 0, or 1mg/kg caffeine in a milkshake, glucose solution or water (at 09:00), followed by a second 0 or 1mg/kg caffeine dose (at 09:40) and the test battery repeated at 10:00. Results The baseline data showed no effect of overnight caffeine withdrawal on mood or performance. In contrast, caffeine challenge improved vigilance performance and prevented decreases in alertness induced by completion of the task battery. The magnitude of these effects increased as a function of the number of doses of caffeine given. Secondary analyses of data from Christopher et al. (2003) also confirmed that effects of caffeine did not depend on length of withdrawal. Conclusions The present findings show no effect of overnight caffeine withdrawal on mood and performance. Caffeine challenge did have the predicted effect on alertness and vigilance, with the size of the effects increasing with caffeine dose. These findings suggest that the effects of caffeine are not due to reversal of effects of withdrawal, a view confirmed by secondary analyses of data collected after a day of normal caffe ine consumption