Pulling Apart in New York: An Analysis of Income Trends in New York State

Presents findings on the state's and New York City's growing income inequality since the late 1980s, with data on household income, wages, capital gains, and business income. Suggests changes in government and corporate policies to help reduce the gap

Power in global agriculture: economics, politics, and natural resources

Recent events, such as the 2008 food price crisis, have focussed global attention on the agriculture and food sectors. In particular, many countries have become increasingly concerned with the issue of ensuring the security of their food supply and one key element of this is who has power within the food supply chain. Through examining three dimensions of power – Economic, Political, and Natural Resources – this paper explores where power currently lies in world agriculture and how this might change in the future. Whilst recognising that power is a somewhat abstract concept, through a process of deriving potential indicators, a picture of the distribution of power is drawn. These indicators were also used to develop a simple 'global power index'. The power index indicates that the US and the EU dominate world agriculture in terms of economics and politics, but are potentially vulnerable in terms of their possession of natural resources. On the other hand, the emerging economies have lower political and corporate power, but seem better placed in terms of natural resources. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for the main food producing regions

Examination of Methylation Sites for Forensic Age Determination from Semen

Methylation Sensitive High-Resolution Melt (MS-HRM) is based on quantitating the melt curve from an experimental sample against a standard of known methylation levels. Whereas most applications of age prediction using methylation markers are based upon pyrosequencing or SNaPshot technologies, these analysis methods are both cost and instrumentation prohibitive. This study sought to use to the varied methylation status of the ELOVL2 and FHL2 alleles, both having known correlation with age (Hamano et. al.), in a labor and time efficient manner to develop an age prediction model. A non-linear regression and standard curve was compiled from the methylation status in a sample (n=7) of extracted semen samples and compared to chronological age. The methylation status of ELVOL2 and FHL2 from each sample was obtained, with the conclusion that no correlation in methylation percentage and biological age existed for this sample of individuals aged 20-33. The principal objective of this study, to expand the application of MS-HRM age prediction from blood to other body fluids, will need further testing using larger sample sizes and broader age ranges prior to application in forensic casework.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1281/thumbnail.jp

RETAILERS PRICE BEHAVIOUR IN THE UK FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET

The purpose of this paper is to study the price behaviour of fresh produce at the retail level of two leading supermarkets, Tesco and Sainsbury, with the purpose of gaining knowledge about their interaction. We focus the study on six products from the fresh fruits and vegetable group (i.e., tomatoes, Bramley’s apples, white cabbage, cucumbers, Iceberg lettuce and Round lettuce) due to the fact on the one hand it is a less complex supply chain (e.g., perishable product, less number of intermediaries) and on the other hand, because during the last 20 years the group has significantly evolved with supermarkets becoming the major players in the chain. The empirical methodology consisted of using Granger causality tests to establish the relationship between the series (e.g., leader-follower) and then vector autoregressive (VAR) models and variance decomposition procedures to capture the interaction of supermarket prices by product. Overall results indicate that the competition behaviour amongst the two retailers changes by product and evolve over timeUK retail prices, supermarket competition, UK fresh produce market, Demand and Price Analysis,

MEASURING CROSS-SUBSIDISATION OF THE SINGLE PAYMENT SCHEME IN ENGLAND

The specific purpose of this paper is to estimate the extent to which decoupled payments under the Single Payments Scheme (SPS) are being used (either explicitly or implicitly) in England to support the continuation of activities that were previously supported by area and headage payments. In the absence of a farm survey, the methodology consists of using information on farm accounts collected through England’s Farm Business Survey (FBS), to estimate a multi-output cost function differentiated by farm size and farm type. This cost function, calibrated to match regional prices in England, is used to estimate the level of cross-subsidisation in the first full year after implementation of the SPS (2005/06). Results indicate that cross-subsidisation was occurring, which might infer that many farmers across England are coupling their payments. Whilst, these results are for the first year, and in that sense may reflect a transitional situation, they are nevertheless important because they provide empirical evidence to inform the discussion concerning the impact and future development of the SPS.English agriculture, single farm payment, micro-econometric models., Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q12, Q18,

Is the future of electoral reform local?

The Electoral Reform Society has recently published two reports putting the case for electoral reform in local government. These suggest acceptance, in the wake of defeat in the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum, that the group’s ultimate goal of change to the Westminster electoral system is unlikely to be fulfilled soon and that a more gradual strategy is therefore needed. This paper examines this shift by asking three questions. First, is Westminster electoral reform really a dead letter? Second, is local electoral reform more likely—and, if so, just how much more likely? Third, would local electoral reform matter in itself

Economics and politics of water resources development: Uda Walawe Irrigation Project, Sri Lanka

Water resources development / Irrigation programs / History / River basins / Rehabilitation / Costs / Crop production / Domestic water / Water use / Reservoirs / Fisheries / Decision making / Cost benefit analysis / Cost recovery / Water requirements / Water demand / Sri Lanka / Uda Walawe Irrigation Project

Les mots des réseaux sociaux

Un corpus diachronique de français journalistique à grand tirage a été utilisé pour examiner la circulation des vocables spécifiques à certains réseaux et médias sociaux. Nous démontrons que, même si la plupart des médias et réseaux sociaux ont un vocabulaire spécifique peu développé, Twitter est particulier parce que son vocabulaire spécifique est très développé. L’analyse des vocables français utilisés pour dénommer six notions clés de Twitter démontre que, même si l’influence de l’anglais est sans doute importante et certains équivalents français aux emprunts à l’anglais circulent, la plupart des termes – tant au niveau des formes répertoriées qu’au niveau des occurrences – sont des emprunts. Pourtant, nous analysons un cas où un terme français, inconnu en anglais, s’utilise à une fréquence beaucoup plus élevée que l’emprunt équivalent. D’autres cas d’activité néologique ayant trait à Twitter sont analysés, démontrant l’ampleur de la circulation de certaines des notions de base de ce média social.A diachronic corpus of wide-circulation French journalistic discourse was used as the basis for the study of terms relating to social media/networks as well as terms derived from the names of social media/networks. It is revealed that while most social media/networks have little, if any, specialised vocabulary, Twitter, is notable in the abundance of its related vocabulary in French. Analysing the French terms used for six key notions relating to this social media shows that while the influence of English is undoubtedly important, and that some French equivalents to English borrowings do circulate, the bulk of terms used – both types and tokens – are borrowings. However, one case is described where a French term, non-existent in English has become more widely used than its borrowed equivalent. Some cases of neological creativity relating to Twitter are also detailed, further demonstrating the implantation and circulation of the fundamental concepts related to this particular social media.Le présent ouvrage est financé par le CNRS (projet PICS – franco-polonais EmpNeo) et par l’Institut d’Études Romanes de l’Université de Łód