Success Strategies Being Implemented in Fresh Milk Supply Chains

Deregulation of the Australian dairy industry, and ensuing supermarket strategies are transforming the fresh milk supply chains. Factors such as increasing consumer awareness, concerns about food safety and environment, innovation, supply chain integration and rationalisation of supply base are adding momentum to this transformation. Milk processors in response to changing market expectations are getting proactive in their relationship with retailers across all aspects of business, innovating to generate sufficient returns from proprietary brands and strategically orienting themselves to develop a mixed customer portfolio and appropriate management structures to service that portfolio. Milk producers are expanding businesses to achieve production and cost efficiencies and strengthening contractual relationships on input and output side for a greater security.Livestock Production/Industries,

Trends In Australian Fresh Milk Supply Chains

The completion of the dairy industry deregulation process in June 2000 is transforming the fresh milk and fresh milk products supply chains in Australia. This transformation is set in an environment where markets are getting more complex and competitive, consumers more discerning and conscious about food safety and public policy is more focused on environment related issues. Supply chains are becoming more integrated, and innovation in product, process and supply chains is revolutionising the way products are being produced, distributed and marketed (Fearne & David 1999). This paper is based on research which, following supply chain management literature, identifies the success strategies in the dairy industry supply chains in Australia. The enquiry seeks to understand the nature and shape of supply chains and the exchange relationship between supply and value chains. The fieldwork for the research involved semi-structured interviews at middle to senior management level in the retail, processing, production and input market of the dairy industry supply chains. The data was managed and analysed using software NVivo ver. 2.0, which assists in identifying major themes and relationships between concepts in data

Success Strategies Being Implemented In Fresh Milk Supply Chains

Deregulation of the Australian dairy industry, and ensuing supermarket strategies are transforming the fresh milk supply chains. Factors such as increasing consumer awareness, concerns about food safety and environment, innovation, supply chain integration and rationalisation of supply base are adding momentum to this transformation. Milk processors in response to changing market expectations are getting proactive in their relationship with retailers across all aspects of business, innovating to generate sufficient returns from proprietary brands and strategically orienting themselves to develop a mixed customer portfolio and appropriate management structures to service that portfolio. Milk producers are expanding businesses to achieve production and cost efficiencies and strengthening contractual relationships on input and output side for a greater security

Dynamics Of Australian Dairy-Food Supply Chain: Strategic Options For Participants In A Deregulated Environment

Following deregulation, participants in Australian dairy-food supply chains are confronted with a more complex and rapidly changing environment. In a study conducted between March 2002 and April 2003, major supermarkets emerged as the dominant power in chain development, with a trend towards greater interdependence and coordination between the chain participants. Future supply chain development will depend on the capabilities of the chain participants in operational and strategic management within the firm, and also in successfully negotiating linkages within the chains. In addition the organizational structures of both the firms and the chains need to be responsive to changing end-user needs and the dynamic business environment

Market Capitalization and Firm Value: The Size Factor

Current multifactor valuation pricing models use size (measured by market capitalization) of a firm as one factor to determine the value of a security. The problem with current standard models was that none of them could explain the value of a security consistently and accurately based on current factors and in particular the size factor. The purpose of this quantitative study using existing time-series data over a 10-year period from 2006 to 2015 was to examine the impact of size factor on the realized rate of return of financial securities, while controlling for the impact of market rate of return. There are currently many valuation models but there is no 2-factor model or a model that uses a size factor that includes mid-cap sized securities. The research questions examined mid-cap sized securities for the size factor in a 2-factor model to determine the accuracy of predicting financial returns compared to the current standard Fama-French 3-factor model. The main theoretical framework that guided the study was the efficient market hypothesis that postulates that the price of a stock reflects all relevant available information. Data were collected for historical returns of 15 individual firms and portfolios of securities based on size. Multiple regression analysis methodology was used to examine the impact of size factor on the realized rate of return of financial securities, while controlling for the impact of market rate of return in the modified 2-factor model that included mid-caps. The results of the study indicate that size is a statistically significant factor in a 2-factor model that included mid-caps. The positive social impact of this study is that it could provide greater confidence in financial markets by providing a fair and equitable means of investment and flow of capital for a robust economy

Caste and Sexuality in Modern Indian Literature

This thesis investigates the centrality of caste in modern Indian English fiction. Although caste permeates and is relayed through the religiously sanctioned practice of ‘untouchability,’ it hides in popular discourse. One pivotal strategy whereby caste tries to maintain itself is its investment into questions of sexuality. I argue that caste is anti-desire; its organizing principle is embedded in violence that impacts everyone to varying degrees, irrespective of one’s caste status, but it affects sexual minorities and Dalits the most. The construction of the Brahmin-Dalit category defines, limits, and thus controls every other socially constructed category. Not only does the brahminic elite brahminize the socio-cultural geography, it performs caste in ways that seep into the embodied self of both upper castes and Dalits. All material and embodied spaces emerge as a theological version of Hinduism. Despite such underpinnings of caste, scholars (predominantly those with upper-caste backgrounds) have ignored caste. They have been happy to explore and challenge colonial power structures, but they have ignored Brahminization, which predates all forms of colonialism in India by centuries as a form of internal colonization of sexual minorities and non-brahminic Others. Drawing upon Indian literary fiction, queer theory, postcolonial discussion, and current public discourse in India, I seek to develop a queer theory that focuses on India and contributes to Dalit Studies. Although there have been discussions of queer sexualities and caste-based practices as separate issues, none, to my knowledge, has combined the two. Taking significant clues from Western queer theory, I turn to Indian sources, both past and present, with a major emphasis on ancient Sanskrit texts in which caste is embedded, to explore caste and caste’s (violent) interplay with sexuality in present-day India. It argues that while modernity can trigger a positive change, a true transformation demands caste reform, not only for the benefit of outcasts but also for the upper-caste people. The introduction of this thesis defines the field of caste in Indian Writing in English, ranging from Gandhian politics to the present-day discourse on caste. The first chapter examines the functioning of caste in a brahminic home in R. K. Narayan’s The English Teacher (1945). The following chapters analyze the complexities of caste from both brahminic and anti-brahminic perspectives in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997) and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017), providing an account of caste in upper-caste homes from queer, material, and linguistic perspectives. The final chapter of this study connects the epistemology of caste violence analyzed through Indian English fiction to two recent events: the socio-cultural response to the Covid 19 pandemic and the death of the upper-caste actor Sushant Singh Rajput, thus highlighting the variety of ways in which caste continues to shape and govern brahminic communities in contemporary India. The conclusion of this study demonstrates the pervasiveness of caste and hopes to provoke further critical inquiry in the field of caste studies and sexuality studies that focus on India.Diese Dissertation untersucht die Schlüsselrolle der Kaste in der modernen indischen englischsprachigen Literatur. Obwohl das Kastensystem alle Lebensbereiche durchdringt und in der religiös sanktionierten Praktik der Unberührbarkeit“ weiterlebt, kommt es im allgemeinen Diskurs nicht vor. Eine zentrale Strategie, mit der sich das Kastensystem zu behaupten versucht, ist ihr Deutungsanspruch in Fragen der Sexualität. Ich behaupte, dass die Kastenordnung Lust feindlich ist; ihr Ordnungsprinzip beruht auf einer ihr inhärenten Gewalt, die jeden in unterschiedlichem Maße trifft, unabhängig von der eigenen Kastenzugehörigkeit, aber gerade sexuelle Minderheiten und Dalits (Unberührbare) trifft sie am stärksten. Die strenge Hierarchie der Brahmanen-Dalit-Pyramide definiert, begrenzt und kontrolliert somit jede andere gesellschaftlich begründete Ordnung. Die brahmanische Elite brahmanisiert (vereinnahmt in ihrem Sinn) nicht nur die soziokulturelle Landschaft, sie setzt die Kastenordnung auf eine Weise um, die in das Konzept des Selbst der oberen Kasten und der Dalits eindringt. Alle materiellen und verkörperten Räume erscheinen als theologische Version des Hinduismus. Trotz dieser Dominanz der Kaste ignorierten Wissenschaftler (vorwiegend solche, die selbst einer höheren Kaste angehören) die Kaste. Sie gaben sich damit zufrieden, koloniale Machtstrukturen zu erforschen und in Frage zu stellen, aber sie ignorierten die Brahmanisierung (den Einfluss der Brahmanen), die durch die Jahrhunderte vor allen Formen des Kolonialismus in Indien als eine Form der internen Kolonialisierung von sexuellen Minderheiten und Nicht-Brahmanen existierte. Ausgehend von indischer Literatur, der Queer-Theorie, dem postkolonialen und dem aktuellen öffentlichen Diskurs in Indien versuche ich, eine Queer-Theorie zu entwickeln, die sich auf Indien konzentriert und zu den Dalit-Studien beiträgt. Es gab Diskussionen über queere Sexualitäten und kastenbasierte Praktiken, doch wurden diese als getrennte Themen behandelt und meines Wissens bisher nicht in Kombination untersucht. Ich nehme wichtige Anhaltspunkte aus der westlichen Queer-Theorie auf und wende mich indischen Quellen zu, sowohl aus der Vergangenheit als auch aus der Gegenwart. Ein Hauptaugenmerk liegt dabei auf alten Sanskrit-Texten, um dasKastensystem und das gewalttätige Zusammenspiel der Kastenordnung im Hinblick auf die Sexualität im heutigen Indien zu untersuchen. Ich behaupte, dass die heutige Zeit zwar eine positive Veränderung anstoßen kann, eine echte Transformation jedoch eine grundlegende Reform der Kastenordnung erfordert, nicht nur zum Nutzen der Ausgestoßenen, sondern auch für die oberen Kasten selbst. Die Einleitung dieser Arbeit definiert das Feld der Kaste in der indischen Literatur in englischer Sprache, ausgehend von der Zeit Gandhis bis zum heutigen Diskurs über Kasten. Das erste Kapitel dieser Dissertation untersucht die Funktionsweise der Kaste in einem brahmanischen Haus in R.K. Narayans Der Englischlehrer (1945.) Die darauf folgenden Kapitel analysieren die Komplexität der Kaste sowohl aus brahmanischen als auch aus anti-brahmanischen Perspektiven in Arundhati Roys Der Gott der kleinen Dinge (1997) und Das Ministerium des äußersten Glücks (2017). Es handelt sich um eine Darstellung der Kastenzugehörigkeit in den Häusern der oberen Kaste aus queerer, materieller und sprachlicher Perspektive. Das abschließende Kapitel dieser Untersuchung setzt die Epistemologie der Macht der Kaste, analysiert anhand der beschriebenen indischen englischsprachigen Literatur, in Verbindung mit zwei aktuellen Ereignissen: der soziokulturellen Reaktion auf die Covid-19-Pandemie und dem Tod des Schauspielers Sushant Singh Rajput, der der obersten Kaste angehörte. Diese Betrachtung hebt die Vielfalt der Wegehervor, auf denen Kaste weiterhin brahmanische Gemeinschaften im heutigen Indien prägt und dominiert. Das Fazit dieser Untersuchung zeigt die weite Verbreitung der Bedeutung der Kaste. Ich hoffe, weitere kritische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiet der Kasten- und Sexualitäts-Studien, die sich auf Indien konzentrieren, anzuregen

Ecological and molecular basis of differential resource use in populations of burying beetles Nicrophorus vespilloides

A fundamental prediction of ecological theory is that competition for resources can drive the evolution of specialised resource use. One way in which costly competition can be avoided is via individual specialisation, i.e., the persistence of specialised individuals within a generalist population that utilise a smaller subset of the entire population’s resource base. This could occur through the evolution of genetic morphs that specialise on different resources. Although correlational evidence exists that is consistent with this prediction, there is surprisingly little evidence that competition causes resource specialisation. Burying beetles are an ideal species for testing this prediction. They require the carcass of a small vertebrate such as a mouse or a songbird for reproduction, but carcasses can be unpredictably distributed and competition to secure ownership is correspondingly intense. For my PhD project in Prof. Rebecca Kilner’s lab, I tested whether this fierce competition for a carcass breeding resource has driven the evolution of beetles that specialise in breeding on dead mammals or dead birds. With field experiments at three different woodlands, I tested for evidence of a bias in the type of carcass favoured by Nicrophorus vespilloides and if this bias changed across the burying beetle season (from April to October each year). I found spatial and seasonal variation within each of the three populations in the preference for dead mice over dead birds. In two populations, beetles were more likely to be trapped upon dead mice overall, but were occasionally trapped with greater frequencies on dead birds. This trend was completely reversed for the third population, where beetles were more likely to be found in traps baited with dead birds than dead mice. The patterns of resource use I observed in the field could be due to adaptive partitioning of resource type within populations. To test this hypothesis, I measured the reproductive success of wild beetles induced to breed on different types of carrion. Although I found seasonal variation in beetle reproductive success on different types of carrion, I found no evidence that this resulted from variation in carrion preferences at the individual or population level. Instead, it is more likely to be explained by variation in individual quality. In collaboration with Dr Michael Sheehan at Cornell University, we sequenced females trapped on each type of carrion within all three woodlands, to test whether carrion specialisation was associated with genetic differences. Consistent with this possibility, we found divergence at ~ 50 loci in each of the three populations. Several of these loci were associated with olfaction and sensory-system development. In the lab, I set up replicate experimentally evolving populations of N. vespilloides which were bred either on mice or chicks for ~ 20 generations. I used these populations to test whether, in principle, beetles within a natural population could become divergently adapted to specialise on different types of carrion. I found no evidence to support this possibility, perhaps because there was insufficient standing genetic variation in the founding populations to select upon. However, there was some indication that the experimental populations might have diverged in cryptic ways that I did not measure directly. To understand the chemical basis for differential resource use, I carried out several analyses in collaboration with Prof. Patrizia d'Ettorre at Université Paris, using mass spectrometric techniques. We found little evidence that the volatiles emitted from carrion differ substantially between birds and mice. We also found little evidence that a beetle’s cuticular hydrocarbons predict the carrion it will be attracted to in nature. However, we did find seasonal variation in the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of wild-caught beetles that could be related to beetle quality or breeding status. In short, although we found some evidence for differential carrion use within wild burying beetle populations and some indication that this is associated with genetic differences among individuals, some of this variation is also due to phenotypic variation in individual quality. While it is possible that carrion specialists could evolve within natural populations, we found no strong evidence to suggest that this happens routinely.I received financial support from St. John’s College, the Cambridge Philosophical Society, the Santander International Mobility Grant, the Gilchrist Educational Trust, the Leche Trust, the Department of Zoology as well as the University of Cambridge for my studies, research collaborations and during periods of hardshi

NEGLIGENCE AS OPTIMIZATION PUZZLES: A NEW THEORY OF NEGLIGENCE

This thesis addresses the following questions, among others. Can two people take the exact same precautions yet face different liabilities for identical accidents? Can two people exercise the same overall care yet face different liabilities? Can a person take more precautions than the efficient level of care requires at the time of the accident, yet justifiably be found liable in negligence? More generally, is the Hand Formula economically misguided or inapplicable, at least in many real-world scenarios? Is the Restatement (Third) of Torts equally misguided or imprecise? Is orthodox economic analysis of negligence law predicated and contingent upon over-constrained and unrealistic assumptions? What are the prerequisites for the application of the conventional model of negligence adjudication? The principle issues examined include (i) Interacting precautions and multidimensional frameworks; (ii) Short-run versus long-run optimization of negligence puzzles; (iii) Pathdependencies and dynamic analysis of care measures; (iv) Non-strictly convex and discontinuous social costs functions; (v) Fluctuating and discontinuous social cost functions; (vi) Threshold effects in costs and efficiency functions; (vii) An expansive methodology to cost-benefit analysis in torts: degrees of freedom, mixed and tailored approaches

EPSAPG: A Pipeline Combining MMseqs2 and PSI-BLAST to Quickly Generate Extensive Protein Sequence Alignment Profiles

Numerous machine learning (ML) models employed in protein function and structure prediction depend on evolutionary information, which is captured through multiple-sequence alignments (MSA) or position-specific scoring matrices (PSSM) as generated by PSI-BLAST. Consequently, these predictive methods are burdened by substantial computational demands and prolonged computing time requirements. The principal challenge stems from the necessity imposed on the PSI-BLAST software to load large sequence databases sequentially in batches and then search for sequence alignments akin to a given query sequence. In the case of batch queries, the runtime scales even linearly. The predicament at hand is becoming more challenging as the size of bio-sequence data repositories experiences exponential growth over time and as a consequence, this upward trend exerts a proportional strain on the runtime of PSI-BLAST. To address this issue, an eminent resolution lies in leveraging the MMseqs2 method, capable of expediting the search process by a magnitude of 100. However, MMseqs2 cannot be directly employed to generate the final output in the desired format of PSI-BLAST alignments and PSSM profiles. In this research work, I developed a comprehensive pipeline that synergistically integrates both MMseqs2 and PSI-BLAST, resulting in the creation of a robust, optimized, and highly efficient hybrid alignment pipeline. Notably, the hybrid tool exhibits a significant speed improvement, surpassing the runtime performance of PSI-BLAST in generating sequence alignment profiles by a factor of two orders of magnitude. It is implemented in C++ and is freely available under the MIT license at https://github.com/issararab/EPSAPG.Comment: 10th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Big Data Computing, Applications and Technologie

Buried in Trapped Air: Tension Pneumothorax, Massive Subcutaneous Emphysema and the Battle for Airway Control

ABSTRACT:  Background: Tension pneumothorax (TP) is defined as a pneumothorax in which the pressure of intrapleural air exceeds atmospheric pressure, producing adverse effects, including contralateral mediastinal shift associated with cardiovascular collapse, due to reduced venous return (because of compression of the SVC and IVC ) and hypoxia.   Usually, patients with TP present to the Emergency Department with vague pleuritic chest pain and shortness of breath, but being considered a red flag it should be diagnosed during the primary assessment and managed promptly with large bore needle decompression followed by chest tube insertion. Presence of extensive subcutaneous emphysema (SCE) can further aggravate the respiratory distress and make the airway management even more challenging in the ER. Situation can become even worse when such a patient needs cardiopulmonary resuscitation on arrival.Case report: We report an unusual case of a 55 years old man, who presented in the ER with history of sudden onset respiratory distress while taking bath. Patient was brought to the ER in a  state of gasping, hypoxia and shock . Needle decompression of the pneumothoraces was not sufficient as he also had extensive subcutaneous emphysema which resulted in cardiac arrest. The CPR and the airway management extremely were practically difficult. He was finally tracheostomised in the ER and accompanied by bilateral chest-tube thoracotomy. He was discharged for home after pleurodesis without any neurological deficit.Conclusion: Primary spontaneous pneumothorax is an uncommon condition but can rarely end up in tension pneumothorax and accompanying subcutaneous emphysema can make the management further challenging. Airway skills of the ER team are important in saving such patients’ lives.