Dissertations / Theses: 'Agricultural biotechnology'

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Sivakumar, Gayathri. "Agricultural biotechnology and Indian newspapers." Thesis, Texas A&M University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/1133.

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This study is designed to look into how agricultural biotechnology is covered by Indian newspapers. A through study of the literature showed that agricultural biotechnology is a much debated topic and there is a vast difference between the concerns expressed by its opponents in developed countries and those expressed by the opponents in developing countries. The research question was whether the sources used in an article determined the way in which this issue is framed. After conducting a content analysis of all articles written in Times of India between the time periods January 2001 - December 2003, it was found that the sources used did determine the way this issue was framed.

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Cao, Yiying. "Innovation diffusion of agricultural biotechnology in China." Thesis, University of Northampton, 2009. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/4958/.

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Nadolnyak, Denis Alexandrovic Jr. "Three essays on the economics of agricultural biotechnology." The Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1058818716.

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Barrett, Katherine J. "Canadian agricultural biotechnology, risk assessment and the precautionary principle." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape2/PQDD_0018/NQ48601.pdf.

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Flagg, Ian Marshall. "The Valuation of Agricultural Biotechnology: The Real Options Approach." Thesis, North Dakota State University, 2008. https://hdl.handle.net/10365/29761.

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This study develops a real options model of agbiotechnology and is applied to three genetically modified (GM) traits. Each trait is evaluated as growth options where technical or marketing milestones must be completed before management can exercise the option to invest further in trait development. The real options values are evaluated by employing a binomial tree which is simulated using distributions for random elements within stages of the growth option. Mean option values were negative for the discovery stage for fusarium-resistant wheat and for all but the regulatory submission stage for Roundup Ready wheat. The length of the regulatory submission stage had the greatest negative impact on the value of the option while the ability of the firm to maximize technology-use-fees had the greatest positive impact. Additionally, traits adapted to crops with larger potential market size are more likely to be in the money than traits developed for smaller market segments.

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Huzair, Farah. "Innovative capabilities of the agricultural biotechnology sector in Hungary." Thesis, Open University, 2008. http://oro.open.ac.uk/31892/.

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This study investigates how context-specific institutional factors affect innovative capabilities of the agricultural crop biotechnology sector in Hungary. Answering this question has involved three areas of research, into: the network of actors and its accommodation of technological characteristics; the sustained use of institutional arrangements which characterised the pre-transition science and innovation system; and, the difficulty of adapting to the regulatory environment in the post accession phase. The significance of this work results from the lack of current knowledge on the extent and survival of capabilities in this sector in Hungary. The study timing is also significant: This is a phase that demonstrates how the sector is surviving the economic crisis that accompanied transition and enduring the current political uncertainty surrounding national GM crop policy. The study uses qualitative methods, comprising a series of in-depth investigations. Data collection via interview and observation began in 2006. Data collection and analysis were guided by a theoretical framework emanating from national innovation systems and triple-helix perspectives. This thesis explores the challenges that are faced by an innovation system during economic transition. The thesis also contributes to the knowledge of science systems and how core science capabilities have contributed to the endurance of a sectoral innovation system. In conclusion the work finds that innovative capabilities in the Hungarian agri-biotech sector currently reside in the core competencies and activities of the science community in this sector and the networks they have created over time within and outside the country. Their future survival depends on the ability of the sector to adapt to the changing context. The institutions between actors and organisations are key to survival of capabilities and their ability to adapt. Institutions hold both the adaptive mechanisms for change and the legacies of the past which can help or hinder that change.

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Vigorito, Anthony J. "Agricultural biotechnology, corporate hegemony, and the industrial colonization of science /." The Ohio State University, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1486459267522341.

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Duru, Godwin Chukwunenye. "Biotechnology research in Nigeria : a socioeconomic analysis of the organization of agricultural research system's response to biotechnology /." The Ohio State University, 1988. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487596307359591.

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Loh, Melvyn Wei Ming. "Riding the biotechnology wave : a mixed-methods analysis of Malaysia's emerging biotechnology industry : a thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce and Administration in Management /." ResearchArchive@Victoria e-thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10063/963.

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Harsh, Matthew. "Living technology and development : agricultural biotechnology and civil society in Kenya." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/2745.

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This thesis examines relationships between science and technology and development, as de ned and manifested by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Kenya whose work involves agricultural biotechnologies. Non-governmental engagements with agricultural biotechnology in Kenya span technology production, promotion and resistance. The argument of this thesis is that through these engagements, and the ways that relationships between technology and development are manifested in these engagements, technological and political orders are merging in civil society. When technologies enter the spaces of civil society, spaces carved out by development practices, the agency of NGOs is contingent and contested. But at some scales, in some places, NGOs are performing functions usually reserved for states, markets and communities. Through push and pull between NGOs, biotechnologies are becoming ordered in Kenya: technologies are approved for research, capacity for research and biosafety is built, scienti c knowledge is generated and transferred, plant material is distributed to farmers. At the same time, social and political orders are formed in civil society that are intertwined with this technological ordering: organisations set up competing structures of representation for farmers; they build social networks for technology delivery and technology resistance; they set and protest the terms of collective decision-making by acting as de facto regulators. Patterns of legitimacy and authority are set and the ability to steer biotechnologies is at issue. Attempts to more democratically guide technologies, when seen as a case of public action more generally, have implications for the ability of Kenyans, as farmers and citizens, to shape the decisions that a ect their lives. By examining biotechnology through civil society, the thesis makes three contributions to knowledge. It proposes that the current development practices supporting NGOs engagements with technologies are creating an increased prominence, or rise, of technological NGOs in development. It provides empirical evidence of this rise in the form of an ethnographic exploration of NGOs in Kenya. Finally, it provides a way to examine the agency of NGOs by building on the new ethnography of NGOs and the co-production of knowledge and social order.

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Plunkett, Marni. "Are genetically modified foods good?, the welfare implications of agricultural biotechnology." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape3/PQDD_0015/MQ49580.pdf.

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Jones, Mary Ellen. "Politically Corrected Science: The Early Negotiation of U.S. Agricultural Biotechnology Policy." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/29868.

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This social history of science policy development emphasizes the impact on the agricultural community of federal policies regarding release of recombinant DNA (rDNA) organisms into the environment. The history also demonstrates that the U.S. Coordinated Framework for Biotechnology Regulation (1986) is based principally in political criteria, not solidly based in science as its proponents claimed. The power struggle among policy negotiators with incompatible belief systems resulted in a political correction of biotechnology. I also demonstrate that episodes in the rDNA controversy occur in repetitive and periodic patterns. During the 1980s, the first rDNA microbial pesticide, Ice-Minus, struggled through a policy gauntlet of federal agency approval processes, a Congressional hearing, and many legal actions before it was finally released into the environment. At the height of the controversy (1984-1986), the Reagan Administration would admit no new laws or regulations to slow the development of technologies or hinder American international competitiveness. At the same time, Jeremy Rifkin, a radical activist representing a green world view, used the controversy to agitate for social and economic reform. Meanwhile, a group of Congressional aides who called themselves the "Cloneheads" used the debate to fight for more public participation in the science policy-making process. Conflicting perspectives regarding biotechnology originated, not in level of understanding of the science involved, but in personal perspectives that were outwardly expressed as political group affiliations. The direction of federal biotechnology policy was influenced most successfully by politically best-positioned individuals (what I call a "hierarchy effect") who based decisions on how biotechnology harmonized with their pre-existing beliefs. The success of their actions also depended on timing. Historical events during the rDNA controversy followed the same periodic pattern--gestation, threshold, crisis/conflict, and quasi-quiescence--through two consecutive eras--the Containment Era (1970s) and the Release Era (1980s). These periods are modeled after Fletcher's stages through which ethical issues evolve (1990). However, an agricultural perspective on the debate reveals that such stages also occur in finer detail on repeating, overlapping, and multi-level scales. Knowledge of this periodicity may be useful in predicting features of future episodes of the rDNA controversy.
Ph. D.

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Tecco, Nadia <1980&gt. "The adoption and diffusion of agricultural biotechnology in Latin American countries." Doctoral thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/272.

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Hébert, Yann. "Simulating input biotechnology adoption using a system dynamics approach." Thesis, McGill University, 2003. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=78376.

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A system dynamics model is developed to study the technology adoption process (TAP) of modern agriculture input technology such as the biotechnologies. The work shows that the system dynamics approach is appropriate to integrate the different components considered in the TAP conceptual framework elaborated in this work. The conceptual framework illustrates the different system components found important in the literature, portfolio decision-making, learning, information gathering, uncertainties and economics perceptions and their involved relationships.
The model is first calibrated and validated using the case of soybeans adoption versus corn uses in Quebec from 1987 to 1998. Validation is performed through five tests, namely visual, statistical and sensitivity, modularity and extendibility are performed to show the relevancy of the approach.
The model is then applied to the case of four input biotechnology crops. Again three types of validation tests are carried out. Results show that the model predicted the shape of the curve for all application fields.

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Hughes, Jason E. "Attitudes, knowledge, and implementation of biotechnology and agriscience by West Virginia agricultural education teachers." Morgantown, W. Va. : [West Virginia University Libraries], 2001. http://etd.wvu.edu/templates/showETD.cfm?recnum=1932.

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Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2001.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 109 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-96).

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Stephan, Hannes R. "A cultural-historical approach to understanding translatic regulatory divergence over agricultural biotechnology." Thesis, Keele University, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.534312.

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Handy, Lanae Cynthia. "Planting the seeds of biotechnology : interest group influence on USDA agricultural research." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66746.

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Bortagaray, Isabel. "The building of agro-biotechnology capabilities in small countries the cases of Costa Rica, New Zealand and Uruguay /." Diss., Available online, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007, 2007. http://etd.gatech.edu/theses/available/etd-07082007-235743/.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008.
Herrera, Hector, Committee Member ; Cozzens, Susan, Committee Chair ; Rogers, Juan, Committee Member ; Shapira, Philip, Committee Member ; Bowman, Kirk, Committee Member.

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Beyene, Abera Hailu. "Adoption of improved tef and wheat production technologies in a crop-livestock mixed systems in northern and western Shewa zones of Ethiopia." Pretoria : [S.n.], 2008. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06092008-133248/.

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Okusu, Haruko. "Rethinking science and society : risk assessment of agricultural modern biotechnology for developing countries." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.434539.

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Hall, Andrew John. "Agricultural biotechnology and small farmers in Asia : the case of rhizobium inoculants in Thailand." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.358388.

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Isaac, Grant E. "Agricultural biotechnology and transatlantic trade : an international political economy analysis of social regulatory barriers." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2001. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2512/.

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The development and commercialisation of genetically modified (GM) agricultural crops has drawn attention to a complex challenge facing trade diplomacy - the challenge of regulatory regionalism created by social regulatory barriers. Social regulations associated with GM crops have been enacted to ensure food safety, environmental protection and moral, ethical and religious preferences. Regulatory regionalism exists at the transatlantic level where GM crops approved as safe in North America have been delayed or denied market access in the EU because of divergent social regulations. As domestic social regulations have emerged on the trade agenda trade diplomacy is at a crucial crossroads because the traditional integration approach of trade diplomacy fails to acknowledge the endogenous political economy factors responsible for the social regulations within a particular jurisdiction. The research reveals that maintaining the traditional approach will erode public support for trade diplomacy and marginalise it as a viable force in international integration. Given the shortcomings of the traditional trade approach, this study then identifies a regulatory development and integration framework contributing to regulatory stability and enhancing the potential for transatlantic regulatory integration. This Ideal Regulatory Framework essentially builds social credence into the scientific rationality approach. Social credence is built in by ensuring consumer information, trust and choice. The result is a trade diplomacy approach that contributes to regulatory stability and integration by balancing the competing interests within an operational, dynamic, rules-based approach capable of managing the social concerns associated with advanced technologies such as GM crops.

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Kibe, Alison G. "Farm Scale Feasibility of Exploiting UV Radiation for Sustainable Crop Production." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/605.

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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations predicts that food supplies will need to increase by 70 percent by 2050. To cope with this, farmers and technologies must adapt to produce higher yields and do so in harsher conditions associated with climate change. The shifting view of ultraviolet radiation may be one of a system of management approaches that agriculture could sustainably adopt to improve crop production. While this technology sounds promising, whether or not farmers choose to adopt the technology, on what scale, or when, is often ambiguous. These decisions are dependent on social, economic, and biophysical factors that can be identified for UV radiation technology. This technology is not ready for full adoption, but there may be some feasible applications in higher value crops like fruit and vegetables.

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Subramanian, Arjunan. "Distributional effects of agricultural biotechnology in a village economy: the case of cotton in India /." Göttingen : Cuvillier, 2007. http://www.gbv.de/dms/zbw/539613584.pdf.

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Barnes, James N. "Regulation of agricultural biotechnology and vertical control in the global agri-food chain : an application of the Coasian lens /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p3144400.

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Nader, Richard Harrison. "Cultural impacts on public perceptions of agricultural biotechnology: comparison between South Korea and the United States." Texas A&M University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/4976.

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According to Millar (1996), the gulf between science and society is growing. Technologies are tools cultures develop to solve society's problems. The rapid dispersion of science and technology across cultural borders through trade, technology transfer and exchange, increasingly requires people in different cultures to make choices about accepting or rejecting artifacts of science and technology such as genetically modified (GM) foods, which originate primarily from the United States. These issues challenge policy makers and scientists to account for the affects of different cultural perspectives on controversial scientific issues. Given the controversy across cultures over acceptance or rejection of genetically modified (GM) foods, GM foods are an excellent example with which to begin to reveal how culture impacts public perceptions of the risk and benefits of science and technology in different societies. This research will: 1. Define public awareness and understanding of science, specifically GM foods; 2. Examine culture's impact on knowledge, including different cultural approaches to research; and 3. Compare recent findings of a bi-national public opinion survey on GM comparing in South Korea and the United States. The proposed research outlines two research questions: 1) How and in what ways do South Koreans and Americans differ in their opinions about GMOs? This question is important for gathering current points of contrast about how the two cultures may differ; and 2) What role does culture play on opinion formation about GM foods? Through grounded theory, the researcher will investigate how cultural differences help explain opinion on public perceptions of GM foods. Is it possible to identify common cultural factors that impact public perceptions of GM foods between South Koreans and Americans? The study will utilize both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Higher education is a major producer of new science and technology. The study is significant for higher education administrators who must understand cultural factors impacting science internationally and globalization of the academic enterprise.

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Escobedo, Avila Mariano A. "Intellectual property in agricultural biotechnology and agribusiness strategy : the problem of investment in R&D /." The Ohio State University, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1486402288261736.

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Theodorakopoulou, Irini. "National innovation systems as analytical frameworks for knowledge transfer and learning in plant biotechnology : a comparative study /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9946303.

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Hartung, Ulrich [Verfasser], and Jale [Akademischer Betreuer] Tosun. "Multi-level Regulation of Agricultural Biotechnology: Determinants and Actor Strategies in Germany / Ulrich Hartung ; Betreuer: Jale Tosun." Heidelberg : Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, 2020. http://d-nb.info/1202783554/34.

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Ludlow, Karinne Anne. "Which little piggy to market? : legal challenges to the commercialisation of agricultural genetically modified organisms in Australia." Monash University, Faculty of Law, 2004. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/5489.

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Funk, Samuel Mahlon. "Efficiency and productivity measurements to analyze farm-level impacts from adoption of biotechnology enhanced soybeans." Diss., Kansas State University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/20563.

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Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Agricultural Economics
Allen M. Featherstone
This study focuses on the productivity and on-farm efficiency impacts of adopting biotechnology enhanced soybeans (BES). Previous research suggests the adoption of BES and subsequent time savings resulted in labor allocation to off-farm employment and reduced on-farm efficiency. Using continuous panel data for 129 farms enrolled in the Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA) with production and financial crop records from 1993 through 2011 that also provided information on their BES adoption experience, this study provides estimates on the technical efficiency, cost efficiency, and Malmquist productivity indexes (MI) with decompositions into efficiency change (EC) and technical change (TC) to provide insights on the impacts of adopting BES for set of sample farms. Using data envelopment analysis to construct nonparametric efficiency frontiers and measurements assuming constant returns-to-scale (CRS) and variable returns-to-scale (VRS) technologies for the farms, this study provides insights on the impact of yield impacts of BES adoption. A biennial Malmquist productivity index (BMI) is developed to consider estimation of the productivity impacts between BES adopters and non-adopters assuming VRS. This analysis used five input categories: Labor, general, direct inputs, maintenance, and energy; and five outputs: corn, soybeans, sorghum, wheat, and other crops. Tobit regression analysis of the panel of Kansas farms provided evidence of a positive impact from adoption of biotechnology enhanced soybeans on on-farm technical efficiency. Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness-of-fit distributional hypothesis tests showed significant differences between analyzing the farms under CRS and VRS assumptions. T-tests showed a bias existed when assuming CRS if the true underlying technology was VRS in productivity analysis. However, there was not a strong statistically significant difference between the distributions of productivity measures from the underlying populations of BES adopters and non-adopters in the sample of Kansas farms. A revenue-indirect cost efficiency analysis of the sample farms demonstrated that different conclusions were reached under CRS and VRS when considering the differences in the average of the means of estimated efficiency scores and Tobit regression results considering BES adoption. Assuming CRS resulted in positive marginal effects for adopting BES of 0.017 significant at the 5% level. The marginal effect of BES adoption was not statistically significant under VRS.

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Curry, Kevin Wylie Jr. "Scientific Basis vs. Contextualized Application of Knowledge: The Effect of Teaching Methodology on the Achievement of Post-secondary Students in an Integrated Agricultural Biotechnology Course." NCSU, 2010. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-03192010-113431/.

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The purpose of the study was to compare two teaching methodologies for an integrated agricultural biotechnology course at the postsecondary level. The two teaching methods tested were the explanation of the scientific basis for content (comparison treatment) versus the application of content to a real world agricultural context (experimental treatment). The study was implemented with two different classes over two semesters. The comparison treatment was administered to 22 students during the spring semester of 2009, and the experimental treatment was administered to 16 students during the fall semester of 2009. The research design used was a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control-group design with an identical pre/posttest given to each group as a means of assessing content achievement. Although the experimental treatment, based out of the principles of contextual teaching and learning, did have a greater mean gain on the pre/posttest it was not statistically significant (p >.05), so the studyâs null hypothesis was not rejected. Based on these results, compared with traditional methods, a curriculum of contextualized teaching and learning can be implemented while maintaining a comparable level of student achievement.

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Li, Moxuan. "To see China in a grain of genetically modified rice : a case study on the governance of agricultural biotechnology in China." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/8739.

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This thesis examines the development and changing practices of governance in China by example of the evolution of policy development in agricultural biotechnology (especially in the case of genetically modified rice). In particular, the process of negotiation between the central government, scientific community, NGOs and the media are brought up to investigate the paradigmatic change in China's development that has been taking place over the last three decades of reform. By drawing on an STS perspective in tandem with social theories, it is argued that the governance of agri-biotech in China could be seen as a process of defining and redefining collective action problems by a widening range of policy actors. This approach is of special pertinence in studying China since its 'techno-nationalist' milieu and complicated and often inconsistent policy process seem to defy the concept of governance. The thesis traces the historical policy development over the governance of agri-biotech in China, and provides a panoramic view on how an increasing number of agents have participated in the process and thereby shaped the collective policy problem. National agri-biotech policy has developed in four distinct phases: an initial phase, marked by technological optimism and lack of regulation; a second, 'the millennium policy‘, distinguished by international pressure from WTO and the Cartagena Protocol; the third phase when scandals of GM rice leakage mobilised widespread public opposition to challenge the current expert policy system; the last stage of intensive policy development occurred since 2008 when global food crises led to the re-evaluation of the collective problem in terms of food security. The China story is not a mere repetition of the European experience in regards to GMO regulation, in that China is still a developing country caught between international forces of trade liberalisation and global biosafety governance, a conflict that is currently complicated in the transatlantic disputes over GMOs. The current policy ambivalence of China is under great pressure to solidify into solutions that can both protect local biodiversity and stand the challenge from international GMO trade. Finally, the opaque nature of China's political culture compromises the efficacy of policy intervention from below, making the policy negotiations an interesting test ground for the possibility of governance from below in the budding prospect of democratisation in China.

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Magnier, de Maisonneuve Alexandre. "The economics of regulatory standards : the case of GM thresholds in seed production /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2003. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p1418049.

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Candemir, Basak. "Intermediary organisations for knowledge exchange : a comparative study of the agricultural biotechnology sector in the Netherlands and the UK." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2012. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/43343/.

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This dissertation, by comparing the agricultural biotechnology sector in the Netherlands and the UK, aims to understand the advantages and disadvantages posed by intermediary organisations for the promotion of knowledge exchange between universities and industry. An original conceptual framework has been constructed to allow a systematic analysis of intermediaries according to the functions they fulfil. The framework suggests that intermediaries can fulfil one or more of the following functions: access to human resources, access to the knowledge base, opportunities for commercialisation, access to facilities and other infrastructure, and access to networks. In order to move beyond the limitations brought about by differing nomenclature for intermediaries, the framework also proposes four ideal types of intermediaries derived from an analysis of existing intermediaries. The results of the empirical study reported here show that the roles of intermediaries are dependent on the characteristics of the sector as well as the history and configuration of existing national institutions. The policy implications of this study are several-fold. It is shown in this dissertation that application of certain dominant models of intermediaries can result in disadvantages for sectors like agricultural biotechnology that differ in important respects from the more frequently studied sectors, where these intermediaries seem to work better. This study of the agricultural biotechnology sector showed that there is space for new configurations of intermediaries such as sectoral technology transfer companies. The study highlighted that the crucial element for knowledge exchange is the production of knowledge itself. After identifying certain weaknesses in the UK agricultural sector and strengths within the Netherlands, the dissertation finds that large collaborative programs tend to facilitate knowledge exchange, while collaborative research and training can be a path for overcoming weaknesses in the system. By comparing the Netherlands and the UK, this study also showed that the presence of a strong industry is necessary for the uptake of knowledge originating from the research base.

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Gugganig, Mascha. "Learnscapes on Kaua'i : education at a Hawaiian-focused charter school, a food sovereignty movement, and the agricultural biotechnology industry." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/59123.

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This dissertation interrogates the different forms that education takes in regards to land across three different settings on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi: a Hawaiian-focused charter school, a food sovereignty movement, and the agricultural biotechnology industry. As ethnographic researcher, I approached Kauaʻi about 15 years after three seemingly parallel developments had commenced: the establishment of Hawaiian-focused charter schools to educate Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) students on their culture, language and history, a “New Economy” resulting among other changes in a shift in agriculture to research and develop genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and a burgeoning social movement concerned about the impacts of GMOs. Following these developments, I argue that education as a term and transinstitutional practice has populated social, cultural and scientific discourses beyond the school. In effect, and at times in overlapping ways, I show that education was firstly a means of self-determination and sovereign right for Indigenous educators to move teaching and learning into the public sphere and onto the ʻāina, land. Secondly, education emerged as democratic right for consumers, environmentalists, and food producers, who practiced self-education – by “educating yourself” – on contested food technologies. Thirdly, among scientists and industrialists, education was both a corrective effort of public misconceptions of biotechnology – by “educating the public” - and a process of community building as to demonstrate a legitimate presence in Hawaiʻi. I further probe what it means for high school students at a Hawaiian-focused charter school to learn to be young Kānaka Maoli while learning about ʻāina (land), aloha (love, affection), andʻohana (family). Through the concept of learnscapes, I indicate that these knowledge ways are not assessed in school education. Rather, the students learned in often inconspicuous ways how to navigate remediation and recovery for land and people, which in times of the “New Economy” and in the colonial aftermath remain pressing issues. Situated in the anthropology of education and science & technology studies (STS), this dissertation furthers scholarship on everyday expertise by elucidating how young Kānaka Maoli as much as citizens concerned with GMOs are knowledge-able social experts, who gain often tacit forms of expertise on their lived-in worlds.
Arts, Faculty of
Anthropology, Department of
Graduate

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Connolly, Rebecca Leanne. "The fragmentation of international law has given rise to a conflict of jurisdiction for trade disputes involving agricultural biotechnology products." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/13744.

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The proliferation of international agreements has raised the challenge of resolving disputes that simultaneously fall under different specialised regimes within international law. The emergence of specialised regimes, and the establishment of independent judicial institutions to oversee them, has contributed to the ‘fragmentation’ of international law. Furthermore, recent agreements negotiated within a particular specialised regime have included provisions that address subject matters outside of their ‘specialised’ mandate. The potential for jurisdictional conflict is seen in the tension between the international environmental and trade regimes, where environmental agreements have increasingly included trade-related measures that operate outside of the World Trade Organization framework. Agricultural biotechnology provides a pertinent example following the negotiation of the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity to govern the trans-boundary movement of living modified organisms. This thesis explores the potential for overlapping jurisdiction between the specialised regimes of international environmental and trade law, with a particular focus on trade disputes involving agricultural biotechnology. This thesis initially considers the concept of fragmentation of international law and the consequences of the proliferation of judicial institutions. Next, the historical development of international environmental law and international trade law is explored, which has laid the foundation for potential parallel dispute proceedings before multiple judicial institutions. The thesis then analyses the principles of conflict of jurisdiction that may assist to resolve these disputes, and applies them to the case study of trade disputes involving agricultural biotechnology. The thesis concludes by considering the options available for addressing conflict of jurisdiction between the international trade and international environmental law regimes.

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Chekol, Abebe Abebayehu. "Granting intellectual property rights on life forms and processes: does it ensure food security? A developing country perspective." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2005. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&amp.

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This study critically investigated the argument whether intellectual property rights over life forms and processes would ensure food security. It only considered the issue from the perspective of developing countries, as they are the ones who are hardest hit by recurrent drought and food insecurity. Protections within TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights) and debates underpinning it formed the essence of the research.

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Olagunju, Emmanuel Gbenga. "Water resources development: opportunities for increased agricultural production in Nigeria." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Water and Environmental Studies, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-10031.

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Agriculture has been the backbone of the economy in Nigeria providing employment and source of livelihood for the increasing population and accounting for over half of the GDP of the Nigeria economy at independence in 1960. However, the role it plays in the regional and economic development of the country has diminished over the years due to the dominant role of the crude oil sector in the economy. With the increasing food demand in Nigeria, the country has available input natural resources and potential for increasing the volume of crop production towards meeting the food and nutritional requirement of the rapidly increasing population and guarantee food security in the country. The study was undertaken to analyse the effect of different factors and policies on the changes in trend of crop production and investigate the possible effect of water resources development on increased volume of agricultural crop production in Nigeria.

The study revealed that there are opportunities for water resources development in the country through irrigation to supplement the water requirements and needs of farmers for agricultural production activities in many areas in the semi-arid and arid regions. Available data shows that there are available land and water resources that could be developed to support the production of food and agricultural development with opportunity for increased productivity.

However, while the water resources are unevenly distributed in the country, there is need for the efficient use and management of the available water resources and increasing the productive use especially in the northern region of the country where there is increasing incidence of drought and competing need for water among the different sectors of the economy. The study also made possible recommendations for policy formulation to address the current problems facing the agricultural sector in conjunction with the requirement for the development of the water resources.

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Mulvaney, Dustin R. "Political ecologies of genetic pollution & containment : social resistance to agricultural biotechnology and the uneven governance of genetically engineered organisms /." Diss., Digital Dissertations Database. Restricted to UC campuses, 2007. http://uclibs.org/PID/11984.

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Petetin, Ludivine. "The regulation of modern agricultural biotechnology in EU, US and WTO law : what role for substantial equivalence and consumer preferences?" Thesis, University of Leeds, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.581948.

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Modem agricultural biotechnology has attracted much critical attention and close scrutiny from politicians, courts and academics, as well as the public, as it creates new risks which in turn may require regulation. This thesis focuses on the role of 'substantial equivalence' and 'consumer preferences' in the regulation of two biotech products, GM and cloned foods. It compares the regulatory regimes of long established GM foods and more recently developed cloned foods in EU, US and WTO law. Importantly, any difference in the regulation of such foods under the EU and US regimes could lead to further disputes at WTO level, as transatlantic trade would be hindered. The thesis also assesses the role that can be played by the WTO. This research asserts that the concept of substantial equivalence, which' assesses whether biotech foods are substantially equivalent to analogous conventional foods, is still at the heart of US, and much of EU, regulation of biotech foods, so rendering the two regimes relatively similar. Furthermore, as substantial equivalence focuses on the end-product rather than the process according to which foods are manufactured, biotech foods may be regulated in the same way as conventional foods. In particular, under existing law cloned food requires no specific labelling in either the US or the EU, although labelling is generally required for GM food in the EU. This research also argues that consumer preferences should play a more significant role in the regulation of biotech foods. Consumers, with their moral, social and cultural values, have an interest in knowing how their food is manufactured. In this context, labelling is vital for consumers as they cannot express their choices and make informed decisions unless biotech foods are properly labelled. WTO law plays a decisive role in the regulation of biotech foods as it would settle any difference in the contrasting regulatory approaches to biotech foods in the EU and the US. It pushes forward the debate on the regulation of new technologies. The product/process distinction also exists under WTO law and is central to the regulation of 'like products'. The DSB could assert that biotech foods are not 'like' conventional varieties and therefore could make the process of manufacture relevant to a like product determination. Moreover, the WTO could listen to consumer preferences and make responses that would enhance the law's claims to legitimacy by analysing the regulatory purpose of a measure. If it did, two separate markets for biotech and conventional foods could be fostered with socially beneficial results. The thesis concludes that an improved regulatory and more efficient regime for biotech foods could be achieved if the concept of substantial equivalence did not play the defining role in the regulation of biotech foods as consumers identify biotech foods as different from conventional foods, and therefore not substantially equivalent (or 'like'), because of the distinct processes involved in the production. Rather, consumers should be given the freedom to choose between biotech and conventional foods as affected by their preferences under EU, US and WTO law. This thesis states the law as at 1 July 2011.

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Anderson, Benjamin Christopher. "Essays on Market Structure and Technological Innovation." The Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1312540016.

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Morrison, David Graham. "Lignocellulosic waste degradation using enzyme synergy with commercially available enzymes and Clostridium cellulovorans XylanaseA and MannanaseA." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013292.

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The launch of national and international initiatives to reduce pollution, reliance on fossil fuels and increase the beneficiation of agricultural wastes has prompted research into sugar monomer production from lignocellulosic wastes. These sugars can subsequently be used in the production of biofuels and environmentally degradable plastics. This study investigated the use of synergistic combinations of commercial and pure enzymes to lower enzyme costs and loadings, while increasing enzyme activity in the hydrolysis of agricultural waste. Pineapple pomace was selected due to its current underutilisation and the substantial quantities of it produced annually, as a by-product of pineapple canning. One of the primary costs in beneficiating agricultural wastes, such as pineapple pomace, is the high cost of enzyme solutions used to generate reducing sugars. This can be lowered through the use of synergistic combinations of enzymes. Studies related to the inclusion of hemicellulose degrading enzymes with commercial enzyme solutions have been limited and investigation of these solutions in select combinations, together with pineapple pomace substrate, allows for novel research. The use of synergistic combinations of purified cellulosomal enzymes has previously been shown to be effective at releasing reducing sugars from agricultural wastes. For the present study, MannanaseA and XylanaseA from Clostridium cellulovorans were heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells and purified with immobilised metal affinity chromatography. These enzymes, in addition to two commercially available enzyme solutions (Celluclast 1.5L® and Pectinex® 3XL), were assayed on defined polysaccharides that are present in pineapple pomace to determine their substrate specificities. The degree(s) of synergy and specific activities of selected combinations of these enzymes were tested under both simultaneous and sequential conditions. It was observed that several synergistic combinations of enzyme solutions in select ratios, such as C20P60X20 (20% cellulose, 60% pectinase and 20% xylanse), C20P40X40 (20% cellulose, 40% pectinase and 40% xylanase) and C20P80 (20% cellulose, 80% pectinase) with pineapple pomace could both decrease the protein loading, while raising the level of activity compared to individual enzyme solutions. The highest quantity of reducing sugars to protein weight used on pineapple pomace was recorded at 3, 9 and 18 hours with combinations of Pectinex® 3XL and Celluclast 1.5L®, but for 27 h it was combinations of both these commercial solutions with XynA. The contribution of XynA was significant as C20P60X20 displayed the second highest reducing sugar production of 1.521 mg/mL, at 36 h from 12.875 μg/mL of protein, which was the second lowest protein loading. It was also shown that certain enzyme combinations, such as Pectinex® 3XL, Celluclast 1.5L® and XynA, did not generate synergy when combined in solution at the initial stages of hydrolysis, and instead generated a form of competition called anti-synergy. This was due to Pectinex® 3XL which had anti-synergy relationships in select combinations with the other enzyme solutions assayed. It was also observed that the degree of synergy and specific activity for a combination changed over time. Some solutions displayed the highest levels of synergy at the commencement of hydrolysis, namely Celluclast 1.5L®, ManA and XynA. Other combinations exhibited the highest levels of synergy at the end of the assay period, such as Pectinex® 3XL and Celluclast 1.5L®. Whether greater synergy was generated at the start or end of hydrolysis was a function of the stability of the enzymes in solution and whether enzyme activity increased substrate accessibility or generated competition between enzymes in solution. Sequential synergy studies demonstrated an anti-synergy relationship between Pectinex® 3XL and XynA or ManA, as well as Pectinex® 3 XL and Celluclast 1.5L®. It was found that under sequential synergy conditions with Pectinex® 3 XL, XynA and ManA, that anti-synergy could be negated and high degrees of synergy attained when the enzymes were added in specific loading orders and not inhibited by the presence of other active enzymes. The importance of loading order was demonstrated under sequential synergy conditions when XynA was added before ManA followed by Pectinex® 3 XL, which increased the activity and synergy of the solution by 50%. This equates to a 60% increase in reducing sugar release from the same concentrations of enzymes and emphasises the importance of removing anti-synergy relationships from combinations of enzymes. It can be concluded that a C20P60X20 combination (based on activity) can both synergistically increase the reducing sugar production and lower the protein loading required for pineapple pomace hydrolysis. This study also highlights the importance of reducing anti-synergy in customised enzyme cocktails and how sequential synergy can demonstrate the order in which a lignocellulosic waste is degraded.

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Rhinard, Mark. "Ideas, interests and policy change in the European Union : the mobilization of frames by actors in the agricultural and biotechnology policy sectors." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.409734.

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Wickson, Fern. "From risk to uncertainy Australia's environmental regulation of genetically modified crops /." Access electronically, 2005. http://www.library.uow.edu.au/adt-NWU/public/adt-NWU20060727.135007/index.html.

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Becker, John van Wyk. "Plant defence genes expressed in tobacco and yeast." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10019/2924.

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Oliveira, Andréa Leda Ramos de 1977. "O sistema logístico e os impactos da segregação dos grãos diferenciados = desafios para o agronegócio brasileiro." [s.n.], 2011. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/286381.

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Orientador: Jose Maria Ferreira Jardim da Silveira
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T19:26:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Oliveira_AndreaLedaRamosde_D.pdf: 5251664 bytes, checksum: fff66619b1d8ddeb1978eee02debfdac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011
Resumo: O rápido processo de difusão da biotecnologia agrícola ocorre simultaneamente à necessidade de implementar um aparato regulatório, que implica em custos ao longo da cadeia agroalimentar. No caso da agricultura de grãos, isto tem ocasionado custos elevados associados à regulação. A emergência de um mercado consumidor mais exigente quanto à preservação da identidade de uma categoria de grãos e o crescimento das exportações de commodities agrícolas brasileiras aponta para a geração de impactos positivos, na forma de melhor remuneração para os produtos agrícolas de qualidade diferenciada. Todavia, tal tendência entra em choque com a estratégia brasileira dos últimos anos de exportar commodities, processo que expõe uma série de fragilidades logísticas do País. O objetivo da presente tese é analisar o efeito da segregação dos grãos diferenciados na logística de transporte e armazenagem do Brasil, especialmente os grãos geneticamente modificados (GMs), a partir das diretrizes do Protocolo de Cartagena de Biossegurança (PCB), bem como os desdobramentos na competitividade no mercado internacional. Com isto, antecipam-se os impactos sobre as exportações de grãos em um cenário em que segregação e identificação de cargas por seus atributos - por exemplo, ser transgênico - sejam demandados. Este trabalho traz como contribuição o desenvolvimento e a aplicação de novas ferramentas analíticas, através de um modelo de equilíbrio espacial, sob a forma de um Problema de Complementaridade Mista (PCM), para incorporar os custos decorrentes da segregação de cargas, cujos resultados propiciem a orientação de políticas mais eficazes para configuração de mercados diferenciados e que dêem suporte a novos investimentos no setor de transportes. Como resultado do trabalho, observa-se que a logística para esta classe de produtos é afetada pelas exigências do PCB. Quanto mais rígidas as exigências para o processo de identificação de eventos transgênicos, maior é o impacto na comercialização, na forma de redução do valor e dos volumes de grãos exportados pelo Brasil, o que, por seu turno, pode afetar negativamente a difusão da biotecnologia agrícola. Sugere-se que o tema da diferenciação de produtos e sua identificação sejam resolvidos por acordos entre as partes interessadas, via contratos bilaterais
Abstract: The rapid spread of agricultural biotechnology occurs simultaneously along with the need to implement a regulatory apparatus that takes into account costs along the supply chain. In the case of grain agriculture, this has caused high costs associated with the regulation. The emergence of a more demanding consumer market regarding the preservation of the identity of a category of grains and the growth of exports of Brazilian agricultural commodities points to positive impacts in the form of better pay for quality differentiated agricultural products. However, this trend conflicts with the Brazilian strategy of recent years of exporting commodities, a process that exposes a number of the country's logistical weaknesses. The objective of this thesis is to analyze the effect of segregating different grains in Brazil's transport logistics and storage, especially genetically modified (GM) grains according to the guidelines of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) as well as developments in competitiveness in international markets. Thus, impacts on grain exports are anticipated in a scenario in which the segregation and the identification of cargo through its attributes - for example, being genetically modified - are demanded. This thesis's contribution is to develop the application of new analytical tools through the development of a spatial equilibrium model in the form of a Mixed Complementarity Problem (MCP) to incorporate the costs of cargo segregation whose results favor more effective policies to shape different markets and which support new investments in the transportation sector. Based on the results of this research, it has been observed that the logistics for this class of products is affected by the requirements of the CPB. The stricter the requirements for the process of identification of transgenic events, the bigger the impact on marketing in the form of reducing the value and the volume of grain exported by Brazil, which may in turn negatively affect the spread of agricultural biotechnology. It is suggested that the issue of product differentiation and identification be settled by agreements between the concerned parties through bilateral contracts
Doutorado
Desenvolvimento Economico, Espaço e Meio Ambiente
Doutor em Desenvolvimento Economico

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Josephs, Jennifer. "Perceptions of Validity: How Knowledge is Created, Transformed and Used in Bio-Agricultural Technology Safety Testing for the Development of Government Policies and Regulations." NSUWorks, 2017. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_dcar_etd/59.

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This is a case study dissertation to research the socio-political conflict surrounding Gilles Eric Séralini’s et al (2012) research on the toxicity of Monsanto’s NK603 line of corn and the herbicide Roundup. The study analyzes this conflict as a system of interconnected and often conflicting interests, assumptions and ideologies about how knowledge is created and transformed from the research stage to the policy implementation stage. The goal of this study is to: 1.) analyze critical surface level and underlying factors that contribute to the conflict; 2.) analyze systemic processes between national and international researchers, private interests and government policymakers in developing and implementing research protocols, policies and regulations pertaining (but not limited) to Monsanto’s NK603 corn and Roundup; 3.) identify potential patterns of knowledge transformation from the research stage to policy implementation. The theoretical approach used in this study considers social construction, critical theory and Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolution. In utilizing case study methodology, this study incorporates internal analysis of Séralini’s case with a basic comparative analysis of DDT and lead policy processes and knowledge transformation, using mainly secondary data sources supplemented with primary interview material from two select researchers using purposive sampling. By conducting this research, it is hoped that this study reveals a better understanding of the complex interconnected systems that help create and transform food safety policies and the science that supports and/or transforms them.

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Serrat, Gurrera Xavier. "Applied biotechnology to improve Mediterranean rice varieties = Biotecnologia aplicada a la millora de varietats d’arròs mediterrànies." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/396188.

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The current world population is over 7.4 billion and expected to exceed 9 billion in 2040, causing a 70% increase in food demand. Global environmental degradation, in the form of salinization, pollution and global warming, has also reduced the availability of suitable arable land and water sources, contributing to promote crop improvement in order to increase the potential yields. Rice (Oryza sativa) is the most widely consumed staple food for a large proportion of the world population. Classical rice breeding programs use its natural variability to create new allelic combinations which are screened for selecting those presenting superior agronomic traits such as improved yield. Those improved lines are stabilized through inbreeding to maintain the phenotype in their progeny. Certified seed producers systematically select and propagate registered varieties year by year in order to maintain their uniformity and the original registered cultivar traits, since natural mutations, spontaneous breeding between varieties and alien grain contamination can introduce undesirable variability at this stage. Nowadays biotechnology is used to drive the improvement of rice traits such as increased yield and grain quality. Moreover it helps to rapidly bestow tolerance to biotic (diseases and insects) and abiotic (drought, salinity, cold temperatures, nutrients deficiency) factors. Some of the available biotechnological techniques applied for crop improvement are i) the genetic engineering, which allows the addition of foreign genes in the rice genome although being controversial due to the social and environmental concerns, ii) the anther culture, which fasten and improves the selection of new breeding lines, and iii) the Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes (TILLING) which combines the production of large mutant populations with the detection of mutants in genes of interest through molecular screening. The main aim of the thesis is to study different biotechnological tools and their applications to the improvement of Mediterranean rice varieties. To achieve this biotechnology is used to study the pollen dispersion of a genetically engineered rice line, to accelerate the stabilization process through anther culture technique and to introduce new variability using a mutagenesis protocol followed by molecular detection of mutants. In this thesis we first studied the pollen-mediated gene flow between wild rice, conventional rice and an herbicide resistant transgenic rice line in order to determine gene flow rates in relation to the distance and the prevailing wind speed and direction. Results showed that pollen dispersal is dramatically effected by the distances between rice plants and the speed and direction of the prevailing wind. Furthermore, the enhanced pollen dispersal capability of weedy rice can also play an important role in transgenic pollen dispersal, which unfortunately had been underestimated. Then, we adapted an anther culture protocol in order to efficiently obtain commercial dihaploid lines from a Mediterranean japonica variety. Furthermore, we described the greenhouse and field trials used to select the best lines for registration which are now being successfully commercialized. Finally, we developed a fast protocol for obtaining mutants with agronomic interest. This protocol is based on ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis of seed-derived calli. The in vitro regenerated mutant population plants were directly screened for senescence-related genes, allowing to shorten in more than eight months the common seed mutagenesis protocol. The molecular screening protocol was also optimized and several potential delayed senescence mutants were identified and tested.

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Sathanantham, Preethi. "Impact of Mutations of Targeted Serine, Histidine, and Glutamine Residues in Citrus paradisi Flavonol Specific Glucosyltransferase Activity." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2015. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2560.

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A flavonol specific glucosyltransferase cloned from Citrus paradisi has strict substrate and regio-specificity (Cp3OGT). The amino acid sequence of Cp3OGT was aligned with sequences of an anthocyanidin UDP- dependant glucosyltransferase (UGT) from Clitorea ternatea and a UGT from Vitis vinifera that can glucosylate both flavonols and anthocyanidins. Using homology modeling to identify candidate regions followed by site directed mutagenesis, three double mutations were constructed and biochemically characterized. S20G+T21S mutant protein retained activity with flavonols similar to the wildtype Cp3OGT but the mutant had optimum activity at 60°C and broadened substrate acceptance to include the flavanone naringenin. S290C+S319A mutant protein retained 40% activity with quercetin relative to WT, and had an optimum pH shift. H154Y+Q87I mutant protein was only 10% active with quercetin relative to WT. Docking analysis revealed that H154, Q87 and S20 could be involved in orienting the acceptor molecules within the acceptor binding site whereas S319 and S290 residues are involved in maintaining the active site conformation.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Agricultural biotechnology'

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