A calibrated model of local food system of Hawaii: What are the economic implications of the state's food goals and policies?

We develop a fully calibrated positive mathematical programming model for Hawaii's local food systems—which captures the production and the consumer sides of the market. Then we use the model to assess two proposed policies—a general excise tax (GET) exemption on locally produced foods, and an investment in agricultural infrastructure. For the GET exemption case, our results indicate an economic gain of $118 per $100 cost. On the other hand, an investment in 1,200 acres of land injected to support local production may generate an economic gain of up to $357 per $100 annual cost of the investment. However, these estimates should be considered preliminary, and thus viewed with caution. Although the model is used to capture Hawaii's local food systems, we believe that our model is generalizable and can be adopted by other economies to assess their respective food localization policies. Recommendations for Resource Managers

• Local food policies need to be based on quantitative terms instead of mere armchair speculation because often their potential outcomes may vary significantly.

• The current modeling framework demonstrates the potential of using positive mathematical programming (PMP) in capturing the intricacies of local food systems. However, this exploratory exercise should be viewed as preliminary in nature and the ensuing results were taken with caution because many important factors such as labor availability may have been left out.

• Thus, further model refinements are necessary to better capture the complexities of local food systems such as farm heterogeneity, availability of farm labor, water availability, and interisland transportation of farm products in the case of Hawaii.

     

Mild and efficient deprotection of the amine protecting p-methoxyphenyl (PMP) group

Mild and efficient procedures for deprotection of the amine nitrogen protecting p-methoxyphenyl (PMP) group are described. Periodic acid and trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA) were found to be particularly effective in realizing amine liberation using 1 and 0.5 equiv of the oxidant, respectively. Extension of the periodic acid-mediated conditions to simultaneous alcohol oxidation by combination with a catalytic amount of sodium dichromate led to smooth conversion of PMP-protected Mannich products into the corresponding β-amino acids in a one-pot procedure.     

Use of multiplex PCR and CE for gene dosage quantification and its biomedical applications for SMN, PMP22, and alpha-globin genes

Many genetic diseases are caused by the presence of point mutations, small insertions, and deletions in respective genes, and the number of diseases known to be caused by deletions and duplications involving large DNA genomes is increasing. These changes lead to underexpression or overexpression of the gene, according to changes in gene dosage. The methods for the detection of point mutations, small insertions, and deletions are well established, but the detection of larger genomic deletions or duplications is more difficult. Due to the lack of efficient and technically feasible protocols for gene dosage quantification, we describe a diagnostic protocol employing a combination of available methods. The efficient and accurate gene dosage quantification platform is combined with multiplex PCR and CE, and applied to detect dosages of several genes, including SMN, PMP22, and alpha-globin genes. The reliability of this novel methodology shows that it is a relatively speedy and low-cost procedure and a significant tool for genetic diagnosis. Its sensitivity and specificity for identifying deletion and duplication genotypes approach 100%. Moreover, once we establish this powerful system, we will further apply this technique to the rapid detection of trisomy syndromes and microdeletion syndromes, including trisomy 13, Down syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome, and others.     

Effects of allylic and homoallylic substituents on the ring closing metathesis reaction used to synthesise simplified eleuthesides

During the course of our synthetic studies towards simplified eleuthesides, we have found that p-methoxyphenyl (PMP) protected allylic alcohols are compatible with the RCM reaction and can give better yields than the corresponding free allylic alcohols.     

掺溴聚-4-甲基-1-戊烯的合成研究

 液溴与聚-4-甲基-1-戊烯（PMP）的四氯化碳溶液反应，在光照条件下得到溴代PMP，通过红外与元素分析确证了其结构。并通过热重分析对其性能进行了初步的研究。研究发现，在光照条件下溴原子很容易与PMP中叔丁基上的氢原子发生取代反应，得到化学掺杂溴原子的聚合物。该聚合物在150℃以下比较稳定，在150℃以上就会失去HBr。采用此种方法，可得到掺杂均匀的低密度材料。     

铁掺杂PMP泡沫制备工艺研究

 以聚-4-甲基-1-戊烯为泡沫骨架，二茂铁为掺杂材料，通过热诱导倒相技术制备出铁掺杂聚合物泡沫。掺杂泡沫的实际密度均高于理论密度，且沿轴向从上至下逐渐增大。在理论密度不变的情况下，掺杂泡沫实际密度随掺杂元素原子百分含量的升高而呈降低趋势。与PMP泡沫相比，掺杂泡沫的孔洞直径分布变宽且网络骨架尺寸有变大的趋势。