Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay currently occupy important positions in the global soybean commodities trade; and also are contributing to the erosion of the US share of the export market. This research analyzes the economic importance of soybean commodities in the current situation, and compares production and trade performance among the major exporting countries in South America. This research attempts to assess competitiveness and comparative advantages using empirical methods as well as descriptive representations of trade performance using the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) method. The calculation of revealed comparative advantage (lnRCA) indices during the period 1970-2004; are analyzed in time-series curves; we proposed the calculation of polynomial trend lines to represent the trends in lnRCA over time. By considering market domination by the US, Brazil and Argentina, as well as the existence of smaller exporters like Paraguay and Bolivia, this research demonstrated that minor exporters are performing suitable development and improvement in terms of competitive performance, despite the small volumes traded. The lnRCA patterns for different commodities from South America suggest that a "catch-up" effect originated with the loss of the comparative advantage US position in the global market, and this effect showed statistical significance for Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. High indices for soybean oil commodities are an indication that Bolivian exports shifted to processed and higher-valued soybean commodity production from unprocessed soybean production and trade. By calculating and comparing RCA indices, this review considers that Paraguay is the best-positioned country in terms of comparative advantage, while Bolivia is also very competitive in terms of soybean cake and oil. Thus, the future success of Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay will basically reside in their ability to build market share and attract large amounts of investment. The South American soybean-producers showed high comparative advantage compared to the United States, the largest soybean-producer of the world. We understand that specialization on soybean production and development of crushing industry have played an important role; and the intensive use of abundant factors are creating the proper conditions to achieve high comparative advantage and competitiveness in the world market.

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The thermal inactivation time (TIT) of Salmonella spp. and Listeria innocua in chicken breast meat during microwave heating process was investigated theoretically. In order to determine the effects of microwave power, initial sample temperature and size on the TIT, mathematical simulations were carried out at various conditions. The empirical approximation model to describe the relationship of the TIT and the above-mentioned parameters was derived statistically with the mean standard error (SE) of 5.2s (9.1%) for all dataset. The TIT predictor was developed by using the artificial neural network model. As a result, the 5-10-2 and 5-20-2 structures with secant transfer function gave the best optimal configurations for Salmonella spp. and Listeria innocua to predict the TIT with the SE of 1.7 s (3.0%) and 1.6s (2.8%), respectively.

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This study was undertaken to clarify the effects of pre-chilling, GA treatment and raising seedling of root pruning on the flowering and cut-flower quality of forced herbaceous peony cv. Sarah Berhnardt. The growth and development of flower buds were promoted and flowering time was accelerated by pre-chilling. Pre-chilling at 15℃ was more effective in promoting flowering percentage than at pre-chilling at 8℃. Flowering percentage was advanced by a combination of pre-chilling (15℃) and GA treatment. In particular, GA treatment just after sprouting was very effective in promoting the flowering percentage, but treatment twice lowered its efficacy. GA treatment tended to lighten the flower color. From these results, GA treatment (only once) just after sprouting used plants, which were pruned roots and then cultured in the preceding year, dug up in early Sep. and then pre-chilled at 15℃ for 10 days, was effectual to promote flowering percentage with no significant loss in cut-flower quality in forcing culture (for December shipping).

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This study was undertaken to clarify the forcing and retardation culture conditions of hybrid tree peony 'Oriental Gold'. 1. Forcing Flower-bud differentiation at the beginning of all treatments (late Sep.) had already begun and was at the stage of sepal differentiation. This stage was promoted by a pre-chilling treatment at 15℃. The flowering time of control plants was the earliest (Feb. 21) and the flowering percentage reached 70%. Pre-chilling treatment promoted flowering to 90%, but delayed flowering time. Flowering reached 100% after a combination treatment of pre-chilling followed by application of GA. 2. Retardation When plants were planted on Oct. 12 after long-term chilling at -0.5℃, they flowered on Dec. 13; the later the planting date, the later the flowering time. Regardless of planting date, the flowering percentage was 100% and the number of cut flowers was about 2 in all plots. In both forcing and retardation culture, no problems with cut-flower quality were observed. Judging from these results, we can use the hybrid tree peony 'Oriental Gold' for forcing culture aimed at shipping after late Feb. and for retardation culture aimed at shipping after mid-Dec.

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Northwest China, a large arid area, is experiencing a serious water shortage. Almost 90% of the water is consumed by the agricultural sector. By improving the technical efficiency of water-saving crops, farmers are hopeed to enlarge these crops' cultivation areas and support sustainable development. The stochastic frontier production function (SFPF) is applied to measure the technical efficiency (TE) and the sources of technical inefficiency (TIE) of cotton farmers by a case study in Minqin, Gansu Province. Based on our plot-level survey data, the estimation results showed that 1) the expenditures of electricity powers on pumping the groundwater for irrigation played the most important role in improving the cotton yield when cost was considered; 2) TIE was closely related to the plot-specific characteristics; 3) the attributes of the farm manager, such as his age, education level, and whether or not he was a full-time farmer, did not affect his technical efficiency. The implications are that 1) there is still a room to improve the technical efficiencies of cotton farmers and 2) there is also a room to enlarge the cultivation areas of cotton to substitute for water-intensive crops in arid areas, such as Minqin County.

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The effects of hormonal treatment for fruit setting of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. Super-Yubi) on the development of a small hole at the blossom end of fruit were investigated. Tomato plants were cultured hydroponically using Enshi solution at half strength. Flowers were sprayed with chloxyfonac (HCPA:49ppm and 196ppm) with GA_3 (0 or 15ppm) at anthesis. There was a high rate of hole formation after treatment with HCPA 49ppm+GA_3 15ppm. A hole on the top of the ovary was detected two weeks after anthesis. Histological examination demonstrated that a narrow channel extending to the locule was present just under the style 1 week after anthesis and split opened forming a hole on the top of the fruit 2 weeks after anthesis. Style split and corky tissue at the blossom end induced by cracking of the exocarp were also observed after treatment of HCPA 49ppm+GA_3 15ppm.

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The effect of storage conditions and time on changes of pH, oxidation reduction potential (ORP; mV), and available chlorine concentration (ACC; mg/l) of Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water (SAEW) was examined. Changes of ORP, pH and ACC were evaluated under different storage conditions, which were the combination of open/closed, clear/dark, full/half-filled container and temperature conditions of 10/25℃ for 14 days. ACC and pH values remained in the officially recognized range of 10-30 mg/l and pH 5-6.5, respectively and ORP remained between 845-900mV for the entire storage period. An increase of pH with time of storage resulted into a decreasing trend of ACC values which was rapid in open condition than in a closed condition at the same temperature. The influence of changes in SAEW physicochemical properties on its bactericidal effects against Escherichia coli (E. coli) was further evaluated for 14 days using SAEW stored under closed conditions at 25℃. An in vitro inactivation of E. coli was designed and consisted of 3 SAEW to E. coli suspension treatment ratios (5:1, 10:1 and 15:1) and 3 exposure times at each treatment ratio (30s, 60s 120s). Overall bactericidal effect of SAEW on E. coli followed an effective and consistent increasing trend with storage time and there was a significant difference (P&le;0.05) in E. coli log<10>CFU/ml reduction within treatment ratios and within exposure times. These results indicate that slightly acidic electrolyzed water maintains its ACC and pH in the officially recognized range for 14 days when kept in a full closed container and that it exhibits an effective bactericidal action against E. coli.

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