The role of food standards in international trade: evidence from Brazilian beef exports to the EU market

The study reviews the literature on global chain governance and food standards to allow for an assessment of Brazilian beef exports to the European Union. The empirical approach employed is based on company case studies. The results suggest that the Brazilian beef chain has little choice but to adapt to market changes as standards evolve. Costs of compliance for meeting international food standards reduce Brazil's comparative advantage. At the same time, changes in the nature of demand have created the need for a more integrated supply chain in order to enhance confidence in Brazil's beef production and processing abroad.

Identification of trade-offs underlying the primary strategies of plants

Question: What are the key physiological and life-history trade-offs responsible for the evolution of different suites of plant traits (strategies) in different environments? Experimental methods: Common-garden experiments were performed on physiologically realistic model plants, evolved in contrasting environments, in computer simulations. This allowed the identification of the trade-offs that resulted in different suites of traits (strategies). The environments considered were: resource rich, low disturbance (competitive); resource poor, low disturbance (stressed); resource rich, high disturbance (disturbed); and stressed environments containing herbivores (grazed). Results: In disturbed environments, plants increased reproduction at the expense of ability to compete for light and nitrogen. In competitive environments, plants traded off reproductive output and leaf production for vertical growth. In stressed environments, plants traded off vertical growth and reproductive output for nitrogen acquisition, contradicting Grime's (2001) theory that slow-growing, competitively inferior strategies are selected in stressed environments. The contradiction is partly resolved by incorporating herbivores into the stressed environment, which selects for increased investment in defence, at the expense of competitive ability and reproduction. Conclusion: Our explicit modelling of trade-offs produces rigorous testable explanations of observed associations between suites of traits and environments.

Resistance is costly: trade-offs between immunity, fecundity and survival in the pea aphid

Parasitoids are among the most important natural enemies of insects in many environments. Acyrthosiphon pisum, the pea aphid, is a common pest of the leguminous crops in temperate regions. Pea aphids are frequently attacked by a range of endoparasitic wasps, including the common aphidiine, Aphidius ervi. Immunity to parasitoid attack is thought to involve secondary symbiotic bacteria, the presence of which is associated with the death of the parasitoid egg. It has been suggested that there is a fecundity cost of resistance, as individuals carrying the secondary symbionts associated with parasitoid resistance have fewer offspring. Supporting this hypothesis, we find a positive relationship between fecundity and susceptibility to parasitoid attack. There is also a negative relationship between fecundity and off-plant survival time (which positively correlates with resistance to parasitoid attack). Taken together, these results suggest that the aphids can either invest in defence (parasitoid resistance, increased off-plant survival time) or reproduction, and speculate that this may be mediated by changes in the aphids' endosymbiont fauna. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between aphid size and resistance, suggesting that successful resistance to parasitoid attack may involve physical, as well as physiological, defences.

Studies on weed infestation and tea growth under various weed management methods in a young Tea (Camellia sinensis [L.] kuntze) plantation

A field experiment was conducted in the low country of Sri Lanka, during the period 1994–1995 to investigate the severity of weed infestation and tea growth in relation to weed management methods in newly established tea (Camellia sinensis[L.] Kuntze). Manual weeding (hand and slash weeding) at various intervals was compared with various herbicides, with or without mulching. Weed control with herbicides was superior to that of hand weeding at 6-week intervals or more. Weed control with oxyfluorfen at 0.29 kg ai ha−1 + paraquat at 0.17 kg ai ha−1 or glyphosate at 0.99 kg ai ha−1 + kaolin at 3.42 kg ha−1 were superior. Plots unweeded for 12 weeks or more produced significantly greater (P < 0.05) weed biomass than plots unweeded for 6 weeks. Although the least weed dry weight (P < 0.05) and the greatest number of weed species were recorded with hand weeding at 2 week intervals, there was no particular benefit on tea growth when compared with hand weeding at 6 and 12 week intervals. Inter row mulching in chemically treated plots was more favorable for tea growth than no mulching, while living weed cover in unmulched slash weeded plots suppressed tea growth. A combination of mulching and herbicides, particularly oxyfluorfen and paraquat, followed by hand weeding at least every 6–8 weeks was considered the most appropriate weed management system for young tea.

Modelling trade contractor information production

Design management research usually deals with the processes within the professional design team and yet, in the UK, the volume of the total project information produced by the specialist trade contractors equals or exceeds that produced by the design team. There is a need to understand the scale of this production task and to plan and manage it accordingly. The model of the process on which the plan is to be based, while generic, must be sufficiently robust to cover the majority of instances. An approach using design elements, in sufficient depth to possibly develop tools for a predictive model of the process, is described. The starting point is that each construction element and its components have a generic sequence of design activities. Specific requirements tailor the element's application to the building. Then there are the constraints produced due to the interaction with other elements. Therefore, the selection of a component within the element may impose a set of constraints that will affect the choice of other design elements. Thus, a design decision can be seen as an interrelated element-constraint-element (ECE) sub-net. To illustrate this approach, an example of the process within precast concrete cladding has been used.

Modelling trade contractor information production

Design management research usually deals with the processes within the professional design team and yet, in the UK, the volume of the total project information produced by the specialist trade contractors equals or exceeds that produced by the design team. There is a need to understand the scale of this production task and to plan and manage it accordingly. The model of the process on which the plan is to be based, while generic, must be sufficiently robust to cover the majority of instances. An approach using design elements, in sufficient depth to possibly develop tools for a predictive model of the process, is described. The starting point is that each construction element and its components have a generic sequence of design activities. Specific requirements tailor the element's application to the building. Then there are the constraints produced due to the interaction with other elements. Therefore, the selection of a component within the element may impose a set of constraints that will affect the choice of other design elements. Thus, a design decision can be seen as an interrelated element-constraint-element (ECE) sub-net. To illustrate this approach, an example of the process within precast concrete cladding has been used.

Green tea (Camellia sinensis) catechins and vascular function

The health benefits of green tea (Camellia sinensis) catechins are becoming increasingly recognised. Amongst the proposed benefits are the maintenance of endothelial function and vascular homeostasis and an associated reduction in atherogenesis and CVD risk. The mounting evidence for the influential effect of green tea catechins on vascular function from epidemiological, human intervention and animal studies is subject to review together with exploration of the potential mechanistic pathways involved. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, one of the most abundant and widely studied catechin found in green tea, will be prominent in the present review. Since there is a substantial inconsistency in the published data with regards to the impact of green tea catechins on vascular function, evaluation and interpretation of the inter- and intra-study variability is included. In conclusion, a positive effect of green tea catechins on vascular function is becoming apparent. Further studies in animal and cell models using physiological concentrations of catechins and their metabolites are warranted in order to gain some insight into the physiology and molecular basis of the observed beneficial effects.

Roman diet and trade: evidence from organic residues on pottery sherds recovered at the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester Hants.)

The analysis of organic residues from pottery sherds using Gas-Chromatography with mass-spectroscopy (GC-MS) has revealed information about the variety of foods eaten and domestic routine at Silchester between the second and fourth–sixth centuries A.D. Two results are discussed in detail: those of a second-century Gauloise-type amphora and a fourth-century SE Dorset black-burnished ware (BB1) cooking pot, which reveal the use of pine pitch on the inner surface of the amphora and the use of animal fats (ruminant adipose fats) and leafy vegetables in cooking at the Roman town of Silchester, Hants.

Daily consumption of an aqueous green tea extract supplement does not impair liver function or alter cardiovascular disease risk biomarkers in healthy men

Regular consumption of green tea polyphenols (GTP) is thought to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) but has also been associated with liver toxicity. The present trial aimed to assess the safety and potential CVD health beneficial effects of daily GTP consumption. We conducted a placebo-controlled parallel study to evaluate the chronic effects of GTP on liver function and CVD risk biomarkers in healthy men. Volunteers (treatment: n = 17, BMI 26.7 +/- 3.3 kg/m(2), age 41 +/- 9 y; placebo, n = 16, BMI 25.4 +/- 3.3 kg/m(2), age 40 +/- 10 y) consumed for 3 wk 6 capsules per day (2 before each principal meal) containing green tea extracts (equivalent to 714 mg/d GTP) or placebo. At the beginning and end of the intervention period, we collected blood samples from fasting subjects and measured vascular tone using Laser Doppler lontophoresis. Biomarkers of liver function and CVD risk (including blood pressure, plasma lipids, and asymmetric dimethylarginine) were unaffected by GTP consumption. After treatment, the ratio of total:HDL cholesterol was significantly reduced in participants taking GTP capsules compared with baseline. Endothelial-dependent and -independent vascular reactivity did not significantly differ between treatments. In conclusion, the present data suggests that the daily consumption of high doses of GTP by healthy men for 3 wk is safe but without effects on CVD risk biomarkers other than the total:HDL cholesterol ratio. J. Nutr. 139: 58-62, 2009.

Albumin causes a synergistic increase in the antioxidant activity of green tea catechins in oil-in-water emulsions

Model oil-in-water emulsions containing epicatechin (EC) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) showed a synergistic increase in stability in emulsions containing added albumin. EGCG showed a stronger synergy (35%) with ovalbumin than did EC. Oxidation of the oil was monitored by determining peroxide values and hexanal contents. The effect of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on model oil-in-water emulsions containing each of the green tea catechins [epicatechin gallate (ECG), EGCG, EC and epigallocatechin (EGC)] was studied during storage at 30 degrees C. The green tea catechins showed moderate antioxidant activity in the emulsions with the order of activity being ECG approximate to EGCG > EC > EGC. Although BSA had very little antioxidant activity in the absence of phenolic antioxidants, the combination of BSA with each of the catechins showed strong antioxidant activity. BSA, in combination with EC, EGCG or EGC, showing the strongest antioxidant activity with good stability after 45 days storage. Model experiments with the catechins stored with BSA in aqueous solutions confirmed that protein-catechin adducts with antioxidant activity were formed between the catechins and protein. The antioxidant activity of the separated protein-catechin adducts increased strongly with storage time and was stronger for EGCG and ECG than for EC or EGC. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.