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The 1:1 adduct of 1-phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (PhTFE), a chiral fluoroalcohol, with water was investigated using chirped pulse Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy and computational methods. While PhTFE itself was predicted to have three minima

Transforming the global food system is necessary to avoid exceeding planetary boundaries. A robust evidence base is crucial to assess the scale and combination of interventions required for a sustainable transformation. We developed a risk assessment framework, underpinned by a meta-regression of 60 global food system modeling studies, to quantify the potential of individual and combined interventions to mitigate the risk of exceeding the boundaries for land-system change, freshwater use, climate change, and biogeochemical flows by 2050. Limiting the risk of exceedance across four key planetary boundaries requires a high but plausible level of ambition in all demand-side (diet, population, waste) and most supply-side interventions. Attaining the required level of ambition for all interventions relies on embracing synergistic actions across the food system.

Purpose Diabetic obesity in the leptin-deficient ob/ob mouse is associated with weight gain, and hyperglycemia, along with hyperinsulinemia. We have previously examined the effects of genistein (a naturally occurring isoflavone found in soy) on metabolic disturbances in the ob/ob mouse and demonstrated beneficial effects of genistein (600 mg genistein/kg diet, for 4-weeks) on T3 production and corticosterone status. The goal of this study was to examine whether dietary genistein could prevent, or at least lessen, the typical phenotype in this murine model of diabetic-obesity, and to assess potential sex-differences. Patients and methods The ob/ob mice (male and female) aged 4-5 weeks were randomly assigned to one of two diets for a period of 4-weeks: standard rodent diet, or genistein-containing diet (600 mg genistein/kg diet). Comparisons were made to a lean control group. Results Genistein diet significantly reduced body weight by 12% in females and 9% in males. Genistein significantly lowered serum glucose levels by 18% in females and 43% in males, yet had no effect on serum insulin. Genistein diet significantly lowered serum triglyceride levels in both ob/ob male and female mice returning them to lean levels. In females only, genistein significantly reduced serum pancreatic polypeptide levels by 56% and increased serum GIP levels 2.3-fold. Genistein had sex-dependent effects on hepatic steatosis: in females, genistein further increased the % fat area and the fat droplet diameter 2.6-fold, along with additionally increasing hepatic TBARS. Conclusion The results from this study indicate interesting beneficial effects of genistein diet for both male and female ob/ob mice.

Growing evidence has demonstrated the benefits of regular exercise on cardiovascular, neural, and cognitive function in humans with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the consequences of AD on gastrointestinal morphology and the effects of regular exercise, which plays an important role against the development of certain gastrointestinal-related diseases, are still poorly understood. Therefore, to assess the changes in intestinal structure in a mouse model of AD and the impact of exercise, 2-month-old 3xTg-AD male mice were subjected to treadmill running 5 days per week for a period of 5 months. Jejunum from 3xTg-AD mice analyzed by histochemical methods revealed significant alterations in morphology. Compared to age-matched wild-type (WT) mice, villi length and crypt depth were increased, and collagen content of jejunum was elevated in 3xTg-AD mice. Jejunum wall dimensions, expressed as total wall thickness, outer longitudinal thickness, and inner circular thickness were decreased in 3xTg-AD compared to WT. Smooth muscle actin expression in jejunal wall was decreased in 3xTg-AD. Most of these aberrations were improved with exercise. Western blot expression of cyclin dependent kinase 5 (CDK5, involved in neural cell death and hyperphosphorylation of tau), was elevated in 3xTg-AD jejunum. This was associated with a 4-fold increase in tau5 expression. Exercise prevented the increase in expression of CDK5 and tau5. Expression of caspase 3 (an apoptotic marker) was elevated in 3xTg-AD jejunum and exercise prevented this. The results of our study indicate that the abnormalities in jejunum of the 3xTg mouse model of AD were prevented with exercise training.

Diversity and diversification in agricultural systems are often presented in the literature as having multiple benefits such as enhancing resilience, increasing food production and decreasing risks in production systems and is often postulated to benefit food and nutrition security in low- and middle-income countries. Our study aims to provide an overview of the potential for agricultural diversification to improve food security status as reported in recently published research articles analysing the diversity-food security relationship. We consider results for different scales, from individual to global and for different food security dimensions: availability, access, stability and utilisation.We carried out a literature review that includes exhaustive, comprehensive searching. We search for peer-reviewed publications in the Web of Science core collection (v.5.32) written in English, between 2010 and February 2020 on the association between diversity in agricultural systems and at least one dimension or measure of food security. From the original list of articles we exclude all publications that (1) focus on a study area outside a low- to middle income country; (2) do not include at least one metric of farm-, regional-, or global-level diversity as specified with the search terms; (3) do not explicitly measure at least one food security dimension, or (4) were exclusively focussed on describing drivers and trends in diversity or food security.We find that a total number of 87 research articles assessed a total of 328 diversity-food security relationships using one or more statistical modelling approach. About half of them are positive (54%) and mostly refer to the diversity-food access relationship on the individual, household and farm scale as this was the food security dimension and spatial scale most analysed. Of all results for food access 60% were positive relationships and only 4% were negative relationships with the remainder having no or ambiguous relationships. Twenty-nine studies used household dietary diversity as a measure of food access and 10 studies used at least one food access indicator that is a validated proxy for nutrient adequacy. Positive relationships were more often reported for food availability (65%) than for food utilisation (33%) also because for food utilisation there are a lot of mixed findings for different measures of anthropometric and nutritional status. The most common spatial scale assessed was the household and farm scale (58%).There is no food security dimension that primarily has a negative relationship with agricultural diversity but there is a considerable number of relationships that are found to be neutral or ambiguous. Diversity can be an important driver of food security, but the magnitude of the contribution depends on the socio-economic and biophysical characteristics of the local farming system. We conclude that farmers mostly see diversification as a potential strategy to improve livelihoods, agricultural production and/or food and nutrition security where other strategies are more expensive but not as a desirable characteristic of the agricultural systems at all costs especially in the presence of other strategies that can achieve the same outcome.

Articular cartilage posesses unique material properties due to a complex depth-dependent composition of sub-components. Raman spectroscopy has proven valuable in quantifying this composition through cartilage cross-sections. However, cross-sectioning requires tissue destruction and is not practical in situ. In this work, Raman spectroscopy-based multivariate curve resolution (MCR) was employed in porcine cartilage samples (n = 12) to measure collagen, glycosaminoglycan, and water distributions through the surface for the first time; these were compared against cross-section standards. Through the surface Raman measurements proved reliable in predicting composition distribution up to a depth of approximately 0.5 mm. A fructose-based optical clearing agent (OCA) was also used in an attempt to further improve depth of resolution of this measurement method. However, it did not; mainly due to a high-spectral overlap with the Raman spectra of main cartilage sub-components. This measurement technique potentially could be used in situ, to better understand the etiology of joint diseases such as osteoarthritis (OA).

Climate change will be a major driver of change in the agricultural sector in the coming decades, along with changes in population, income, urbanization, dietary preferences, and technology.1 Agriculture is unique among economic sectors in its dependence on temperature, precipitation, and other climate variables, and is thus unique in its sensitivity to changes in those variables. Farmers around the world have long been accustomed to dealing with the vagaries of weather, but climate change is now occurring on a larger scale and will bring bigger challenges in terms of what farmers produce, where and how they produce it, and what we eat.

Summary By 2050, the global demand for land and water for agricultural use is projected to increase. Climate change is likely to affect agricultural production through increased temperatures as well as through altered precipitation patterns, which are likely to increase water deficiency in many regions. Measures seeking to increase water efficiency and resilience of the agricultural sector to climate change will therefore be critical. The benefits of more efficient irrigation systems are especially apparent in regions already suffering from water shortages, such as the Mediterranean Basin, or those that are likely to suffer in the future, such as the Southern Cone of South America. However, unless incentives for saving water are in place, farmers may decide to expand their area of irrigated land, or to switch to water-intensive, higher-value commodities. Extending irrigation generally constitutes mixed blessings. In regions experiencing water deficits, extending irrigation may lead to greater water stress on irrigated agriculture. Meanwhile, when applied globally and governed carefully, efficient irrigation techniques and extending irrigation can yield overall increases in agricultural production that can reduce agricultural commodity prices. Stimulating water-efficient irrigation systems may thus prove crucial in improving farmers' resilience over time, though such measures should be supported by other economic instruments such as water pricing or water trading, where necessary. D'ici 2050, la demande mondiale de terres et d'eau a vocation agricole augmentera selon les projections. Le changement climatique va probablement affecter la production agricole par le biais de la hausse des temperatures ainsi que par la modification du regime des precipitations, qui fera sans doute augmenter le deficit hydrique dans de nombreuses regions. Les mesures visant a accroitre la gestion rationnelle de l'eau et la resilience du secteur agricole au changement climatique seront donc cruciales. Les avantages de systemes de gestion de l'eau plus efficaces sont particulierement visibles dans les regions deja sujettes a des deficits hydriques comme le bassin mediterraneen ou qui vont probablement etre affectees dans l'avenir comme le cone meridional de l'Amerique du sud. Cependant, en l'absence de mesures incitant a economiser l'eau, les agriculteurs pourraient decider d'augmenter les superficies irriguees ou s'orienter vers des productions a haute valeur ajoutee gourmandes en eau. Le developpement de l'irrigation a generalement des resultats mitiges. Dans les regions sujettes a deficit en eau, il peut accroitre le stress hydrique dans l'agriculture irriguee. Dans le meme temps, les techniques d'irrigations efficaces et le developpement de l'irrigation peuvent, lorsqu'elles sont appliquees au niveau mondial et font l'objet d'une gouvernance avisee, conduire a une hausse de la production agricole susceptible de faire baisser les prix des produits agricoles primaires. Il peut donc s'averer crucial d'encourager les systemes d'irrigation utilisant l'eau de maniere efficace pour ameliorer la resilience des agriculteurs a long terme, meme si ces mesures devraient s'appuyer sur d'autres instruments economiques comme la tarification de l'eau ou les marches de l'eau lorsque c'est necessaire. Vorhersagen zufolge soll die weltweite Nachfrage nach Boden und Wasser zur Nutzung in der Landwirtschaft bis 2050 steigen. Der Klimawandel wird sich voraussichtlich auf die Agrarproduktion auswirken, da er mit Temperaturanstiegen und veranderten Niederschlagsmustern verbunden ist, was in vielen Regionen vermutlich zu erhohtem Wassermangel fuhrt. Daher kommt es nun entscheidend auf die Masnahmen zur Erhohung von Wassernutzungseffizienz und Resilienz des Agrarsektors gegen den Klimawandel an. Der Nutzen effizienterer Bewasserungssysteme zeigt sich besonders deutlich in bereits von Wassermangel betroffenen Regionen wie dem Mittelmeerraum oder in von Wassermangel bedrohten Regionen wie dem Sudkegel Lateinamerikas. Solange jedoch die Anreize zum sparsamen Einsatz von Wasser nicht gegeben sind, konnten die Landwirte es favorisieren, ihre bewasserten Flachen auszuweiten oder auf hoherwertige Rohstoffe mit hohem Wasserbedarf umzusteigen. Im Allgemeinen hat es nicht nur Vorteile, die Bewasserung auszuweiten. In von Wassermangel betroffenen Regionen kann eine Ausweitung der Bewasserung zu hoherem Wasserstress in der bewasserten Landwirtschaft fuhren. Effiziente Bewasserungsverfahren konnen jedoch in Kombination mit einer Ausweitung der Bewasserung zu einer Gesamterhohung der Agrarproduktion und somit zu einer Senkung der landwirtschaftlichen Rohstoffpreise beitragen, wenn sie sinnvoll eingesetzt und sorgfaltig ausgeregelt werden. Es konnte also im Laufe der Zeit auserst wichtig fur eine bessere Resilienz der Landwirte sein, wassereffiziente Bewasserungssysteme zu fordern, obgleich solche Masnahmen ggf. durch andere Instrumente wie z.B. Wasserpreisgestaltung oder Wasserhandel unterstutzt werden sollten.

Agriculture is unique among economic sectors in the nature of impacts from climate change. The production activity that transforms inputs into agricultural outputs involves direct use of weather inputs (temperature, solar radiation available to the plant, and precipitation). Previous studies of the impacts of climate change on agriculture have reported substantial differences in outcomes such as prices, production, and trade arising from differences in model inputs and model specification. This article presents climate change results and underlying determinants from a model comparison exercise with 10 of the leading global economic models that include significant representation of agriculture. By harmonizing key drivers that include climate change effects, differences in model outcomes were reduced. The particular choice of climate change drivers for this comparison activity results in large and negative productivity effects. All models respond with higher prices. Producer behavior differs by model with some emphasizing area response and others yield response. Demand response is least important. The differences reflect both differences in model specification and perspectives on the future. The results from this study highlight the need to more fully compare the deep model parameters, to generate a call for a combination of econometric and validation studies to narrow the degree of uncertainty and variability in these parameters and to move to Monte Carlo type simulations to better map the contours of economic uncertainty.

The purpose of this paper was to examine ways that corporations can make a greater contribution to civic and community development through strategic ties to a city's development agenda surrounding the hosting of sporting events. Using the perspective of Corporate Community Involvement (CCI), we draw upon data collected as part of a larger study on sporting events and community development to explore how cities and corporations can make socially responsible contributions to communities. The guiding principles of community involvement in decision-making, full public disclosure and transparency, and grassroots legacy planning underscore the importance of community-based strategies for CCI. We offer three related strategies: comprehensive social and community impact assessments, facilitation of local knowledge capital and providers, and cross-sectoral management event programming as ways for corporations to begin to engage in CCI activities related to events. These strategies offer opportunities for organisation to use sport to make a valuable contribution to communities and community development activities.

The International Food Policy Research Institute’s International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) supports analysis of long-term challenges and opportunities for food, agriculture, and natural resources at global and regional scales. IMPACT is continually being updated and improved to better inform the choices that decisionmakers face today. This document describes the latest version of the model. IMPACT version 3 expands the geographic and commodity scope of the model in response to desires expressed by researchers and policymakers to address more complex questions involving climate change, food security, and economic development into the future. IMPACT 3 is an integrated modeling system that links information from climate models (Earth System Models), crop simulation models (for example, Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer), and water models linked to a core global, partial equilibrium, multimarket model focused on the agriculture sector. This model system supports longer-term scenario analysis through the integration of these multidisciplinary modules to provide researchers and policymakers with a flexible tool to assess and compare the potential effects of changes in biophysical systems, socioeconomic trends, technologies, and policies.

Transition metal carbides have unique properties such as high hardness, high melting point, high thermal conductivity, and high chemical stability. Transition metal carbides have extensive applications in many areas. For example, the refractory and hard ceramic material Niobium carbides (NbC and Nb2C) can be used in tool bits for cutting tools and materials for wearing resistance. It has been reported that early transition metal carbides resembled the valance electron structures and the catalytic properties metals such as Pt and Pd. The metal carbides or the carbide-derived carbon CDC obtained from these metal carbide precursors can be used as supports to reduce the overall loading of the precious metals. Due to its chemical stability and poor sintering ability, research about chemical properties of carbides is restricted in limited areas. Metal carbides can be oxidized at higher temperature with different oxidants such as chlorine or oxygen. At a temperature of 350 oC or higher, metal carbides can react with chlorine gas to be volatile metal chlorides. At room temperature, metal carbides are very stable in many strong acid solutions. However, when electrical potential is applied, metal carbides can be oxidized and metal oxides can be produced and dissolved in solutions. In this report, we investigate the electrochemical properties of a series of metal carbides, NbC, Nb2C, TaC, Ta2C, VC, and V2C in aqueous solutions with the presents of HCl and HF. Cyclic voltammetry and elemental analysis demonstrated that all of these metal carbides can be oxidized electrochemically at a “mild” electrode potential and produce soluble metal ions in the solutions. The CDC on the surface of the electrode after oxidation is porous and either sp3 or sp2 hybridized.

Integrating gene expression profiles with certain proteins can improve our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms in protein-ligand binding. This paper spotlights the integration of gene expression data and target prediction scores, providing insight into mechanism of action (MoA). Compounds are clustered based upon the similarity of their predicted protein targets and each cluster is linked to gene sets using Linear Models for Microarray Data. MLP analysis is used to generate gene sets based upon their biological processes and a qualitative search is performed on the homogeneous target-based compound clusters to identify pathways. Genes and proteins were linked through pathways for 6 of the 8 MCF7 and 6 of the 11 PC3 clusters. Three compound clusters are studied; (i) the target-driven cluster involving HSP90 inhibitors, geldanamycin and tanespimycin induces differential expression for HSP90-related genes and overlap with pathway response to unfolded protein. Gene expression results are in agreement with target prediction and pathway annotations add information to enable understanding of MoA. (ii) The antipsychotic cluster shows differential expression for genes LDLR and INSIG-1 and is predicted to target CYP2D6. Pathway steroid metabolic process links the protein and respective genes, hypothesizing the MoA for antipsychotics. A sub-cluster (verepamil and dexverepamil), although sharing similar protein targets with the antipsychotic drug cluster, has a lower intensity of expression profile on related genes, indicating that this method distinguishes close sub-clusters and suggests differences in their MoA. Lastly, (iii) the thiazolidinediones drug cluster predicted peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR) PPAR-alpha, PPAR-gamma, acyl CoA desaturase and significant differential expression of genes ANGPTL4, FABP4 and PRKCD. The targets and genes are linked via PPAR signalling pathway and induction of apoptosis, generating a hypothesis for the MoA of thiazolidinediones. Our analysis show one or more underlying MoA for compounds and were well-substantiated with literature.

This article compares the theoretical and functional specification of production in partial equilibrium (PE) and computable general equilibrium (CGE) models of the global agricultural and food system included in the AgMIP model comparison study. The two model families differ in their scope—partial versus economy-wide—and in how they represent technology and the behavior of supply and demand in markets. The CGE models are “deep” structural models in that they explicitly solve the maximization problem of consumers and producers, assuming utility maximization and profit maximization with production/cost functions that include all factor inputs. The PE models divide into two groups on the supply side: (1) “shallow” structural models, which essentially specify area/yield supply functions with no explicit maximization behavior, and (2) “deep” structural models that provide a detailed activity-analysis specification of technology and explicit optimizing behavior by producers. While the models vary in their specifications of technology, both within and between the PE and CGE families, we consider two stylized theoretical models to compare the behavior of crop yields and supply functions in CGE models with their behavior in shallow structural PE models. We find that the theoretical responsiveness of supply to changes in prices can be similar, depending on parameter choices that define the behavior of implicit supply functions over the domain of applicability defined by the common scenarios used in the AgMIP comparisons. In practice, however, the applied models are more complex and differ in their empirical sensitivity to variations in specification—comparability of results given parameter choices is an empirical question. To illustrate the issues, sensitivity analysis is done with one global CGE model, MAGNET, to indicate how the results vary with different specification of technical change, and how they compare with the results from PE models.

Changes in agricultural land use have important implications for environmental services. Previous studies of agricultural land-use futures have been published indicating large uncertainty due to different model assumptions and methodologies. In this article we present a first comprehensive comparison of global agro-economic models that have harmonized drivers of population, GDP, and biophysical yields. The comparison allows us to ask two research questions: (1) How much cropland will be used under different socioeconomic and climate change scenarios? (2) How can differences in model results be explained? The comparison includes four partial and six general equilibrium models that differ in how they model land supply and amount of potentially available land. We analyze results of two different socioeconomic scenarios and three climate scenarios (one with constant climate). Most models (7 out of 10) project an increase of cropland of 10–25% by 2050 compared to 2005 (under constant climate), but one model projects a decrease. Pasture land expands in some models, which increase the treat on natural vegetation further. Across all models most of the cropland expansion takes place in South America and sub-Saharan Africa. In general, the strongest differences in model results are related to differences in the costs of land expansion, the endogenous productivity responses, and the assumptions about potential cropland.

Synthetic-jet actuators (SJA) have been employed in a variety of roles including aerodynamic boundary layer control. In their most widespread configurations, these zero net mass-flow devices are actuated by a piezoelectric, periodically-oscillating which alternatively admits and then expels a gas from an enclosed cavity through a nozzle. The cyclic fluid motion in and out of the cavity forms a synthetic outward bound jet. The aim of the current paper is to present the development and validation of a modeling procedure based on finite elements, which includes multiphysics simulation. The SJA model was based on fully-coupled acoustic, structural and piezoelectric modeling. The predicted results were favorably compared to experiment. While coupled fluid-structural piezoelectric models are available, the proposed method is a much more convenient quick-design tool for SJA’S due to reduced computational times based onthe acoustic fluid approximation.

Background: Isoflurane causes long-term hippocampal-dependent learning deficits in rats despite limited isoflurane-induced hippocampal cell death, raising questions about the causality between isoflurane-induced cell death and isoflurane-induced cognitive function. Neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus is required for hippocampal-dependent learning and thus constitutes a potential alternative mechanism by which cognition can be altered after neonatal anesthesia. The authors tested the hypothesis that isoflurane alters proliferation and differentiation of hippocampal neural progenitor cells. Methods: Multipotent neural progenitor cells were isolated from pooled rat hippocampi (postnatal day 2) and grown in culture. These cells were exposed to isoflurane and evaluated for cell death using lactate dehydrogenase release, caspase activity, and immunocytochemistry for nuclear localization of cleaved caspase 3. Growth was assessed by cell counting and BrdU incorporation. Expression of markers of stemness (Sox2) and cell division (Ki67) were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Cell fate selection was assessed using immunocytochemistry to stain for neuronal and glial markers. Results: Isoflurane did not change lactate dehydrogenase release, activity of caspase 3/7, or the amount of nuclear cleaved caspase 3. Isoflurane decreased caspase 9 activity, inhibited proliferation, and decreased the proportion of cells in s-phase. messenger ribonucleic acid expression of Sox2 (stem cells) and Ki67 (proliferation) were decreased. Differentiating neural progenitor cells more often select a neuronal fate after isoflurane exposure. Conclusions: The authors conclude that isoflurane does not cause cell death, but it does act directly on neural progenitor cells independently of effects on the surrounding brain to decrease proliferation and increase neuronal fate selection. These changes could adversely affect cognition after isoflurane anesthesia.

Section 1: Framing International Business and Tourism - Governance and Regulation Section 2: The Internationalisation of Tourism Businesses Section 3: The Internationalisation of Tourism: Practices and Processes Section 4: Tourism and Destinations in the Internationalisation of Business

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) receives an increasing amount of attention because it exhibits the strongest piezoelectric response of any commercially available polymer. These piezoelectric properties have proved useful as actuators and sensors. Current manufacturing processes limit PVDF to thin films and restricting their uses largely to sensors. Further applications utilizing the changes in mechanical properties of piezoelectric polymers are being realized. Evaluating to what extent the mechanical properties will change with applied electric field and finding new ways to manufacture PVDF will lead to new applications of piezoelectric polymers. In-situ mechanical testing of biased piezoelectric PVDF films successfully measured changes in loss and storage modulus. In-situ creep testing measured an increase in stiffness while in-situ dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measured and overall decrease in loss and storage modulus. Differences in results between the two experiments are attributed to orientation of the polymer and piezoelectric forces acting on the equipment. DMA results are accepted as being the most accurate and measured changes of over 20% in elastic modulus. Results were believed to be greatly influence by attached electrodes and actuation forces. Cryogenic mechanical milling successfully converted a phase PVDF powder to b phase as measured with wide-angle x-ray diffraction. This is the first recorded instance of b phase powders forming from the a phase through ball milling. These b phase powders maintained their crystal structure during compression molding at 70°C. Master of Science