Abundant Production Research Articles

Discovery and Bioinspired Synthesis of Salpratone A.

Salpratone A (1), a novel abietane diterpenoid containing a unique cis-fused A/B ring, was isolated from Salvia prattii. Bioactivity studies showed that 1 has potent activity in inhibiting platelet aggregation induced by multiple agonists as well as antithrombotic efficacy in the FeCl3-induced rat in vivo thrombosis model. Furthermore, a bioinspired synthesis of 1 from the abundant natural product ferruginol was achieved in 6 steps with a 22% overall yield. The key steps include a stereoselective allyl oxidation and a subsequent regioselective Meinwald rearrangement.

Emergy accounting of coffee husks for the generation of energy

Coffee husks are an abundant and underutilized waste product from the Brazilian agro-industry. The present study employs the emergy methodology to investigate the potential of utilizing coffee husks as a co-product for efficient energy generation. Emergy Accounting key findings indicate high transformity and specific emergy values, endorsing their substantial energy potential. Emergy accounting evaluate indices such as emergy economic efficiency (EYR), environmental loading ratio (ELR), and environmental sustainability index (ESI). Results indicate that the system operates with an EYR of 1.19, demonstrating that the energy output exceeds the invested energy, while the ELR of 6.42 suggests a moderate environmental impact and low ESI of 0.19 underscores the need for more sustainable practices in the coffee production system. Despite environmental impacts, the system yields net energy with 103% higher ecosystem efficiency. Coffee husks, compared to sugarcane straw and bagasse, boast advantageous traits—favorable ash content, optimal particle size, and low moisture, thereby reducing the need for energy-intensive processing. These results support investment in the husks' combustion process, akin to sugarcane bagasse, reducing reliance on non-renewable sources in the thermoelectric system. This study underscores coffee husks as a promising alternative energy source, repurposing an abundant agro-industrial waste.

Myeloperoxidase-mimetic nanozyme generates hypochlorous acid for phagosomal bacteria elimination

Fighting against intracellular bacteria that can evade antibiotics is a long-standing challenge. Inspired by the abundant production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) within phagosomes during phagocytosis of bacteria, we have devised a myeloperoxidase-like nanozyme capable of facilitating phagosomal reactive oxygen species (ROS) production within the phagosomal environment, while simultaneously enabling the intracellular delivery of antibiotics. These novel nanozymes, denoted as GEN-NPs, has been fabricated through the conjugation of gentamicin (GEN) onto ultrasmall vanadium oxide nanoparticles (NPs). Our results demonstrate that GEN-NPs exhibit superior efficiency in eradicating both intracellular and extracellular bacteria, surpassing free GEN or NPs alone. This enhanced bactericidal activity can be attributed to the bacteria targeting ability and synergistic effect of myeloperoxidase-like GEN-NPs, which catalyze the conversion of abundant H2O2 into bactericide hypochlorous acid (HClO) and ROS within phagosomes. Moreover, the superior therapeutic outcomes of GEN-NPs have been observed across multiple infection models, outperforming the combined effect of GEN and NPs. This study posits that myeloperoxidase-like nanozyme presents a versatile platform for the development of next-generation therapeutics targeting intracellular bacteria.

Monaspin B, a Novel Cyclohexyl-furan from Cocultivation of Monascus purpureus and Aspergillus oryzae, Exhibits Potent Antileukemic Activity.

Natural products are a rich resource for the discovery of innovative drugs. Microbial cocultivation enables discovery of novel natural products through tandem enzymatic catalysis between different fungi. In this study, Monascus purpureus, as a food fermentation strain capable of producing abundant natural products, was chosen as an example of a cocultivation pair strain. Cocultivation screening revealed that M. purpureus and Aspergillus oryzae led to the production of two novel cyclohexyl-furans, Monaspins A and B. Optimization of the cocultivation mode and media enhanced the production of Monaspins A and B to 1.2 and 0.8 mg/L, respectively. Monaspins A and B were structurally elucidated by HR-ESI-MS and NMR. Furthermore, Monaspin B displayed potent antiproliferative activity against the leukemic HL-60 cell line by inducing apoptosis, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 160 nM. Moreover, in a mouse leukemia model, Monaspin B exhibited a promising in vivo antileukemic effect by reducing white blood cell, lymphocyte, and neutrophil counts. Collectively, these results indicate that Monaspin B is a promising candidate agent for leukemia therapy.

Manajemen Operasi Internasional

Operations management is a series of activities that a company uses to convert a variety of input ( raw materials, labor, etc.) into end products and services. Operations Management relates to the production of goods and services, and the output of the abundant production of Goods and Services is under the coordination and supervision of the operations manager. International operations management refers to the activities related to the transformation of an international company. Operations management is also closely linked to quality, productivity, and information technology. A company determines how input is transformed into goods or services. Correctly designed and operating systems are successful and procedures play a major role in determining product quality and productivity. The aim of this research is to find out how management on international operations. The method used is the library study method. This article is about managing international operations. Operations management is a series of activities that a company uses to convert a variety of input ( raw materials, labor, etc.) into end products and services. Operations Management relates to the production of goods and services, and the output of the abundant production of Goods and Services is under the coordination and supervision of the operations manager. The primary role of operations management is to create potential for achieving maximum value for the company. In other words, operation management is an activity to provide added value that is meant to create or add new value to the input of the organization in a way that directly affects the output.

Diverse foraging strategies of breeding Swinhoe's Storm-petrel in the productive marginal sea of the Northwest Pacific

Understanding the foraging behavior is essential for investigating seabird ecology and conservation, as well as monitoring the well-being of the marine environment. Breeding seabirds adopt diverse foraging strategies to maximize energy gains and cope with the intensified challenges of parenting and self-maintenance. Such trade-off may stem from the heterogeneity of food resources and the constraints of central place foraging. Nevertheless, abundant marine productivity could alleviate the energy limitation for seabirds, resulting in a consistent foraging approach. Here, we investigated the foraging strategy during the breeding season of a cryptic small-sized seabird, Swinhoe's Storm-petrel (Hydrobates monorhis), in the Yellow Sea, a productive marginal sea of the Northwest Pacific. Using GPS tracking, we evaluated habitat preference, quantified the foraging strategy, and tested if environmental conditions and individual traits influence foraging trips. We found that Swinhoe's Storm-petrels preferred nearshore areas with shallow water and engaged in primarily short foraging trips. Distinctive southeastward and southwestward strategies emerged when combining trip metrics, including foraging direction, duration, and maximum distance. The bathymetry, proximity to the coastline, and sea surface temperature differed in two foraging strategies. Foraging strategies exhibited flexibility between individuals, potentially explained by wing morphology, in which longer-winged birds are more likely to embark on longer-distance foraging trips. These findings highlight the impact of environmental factors and individual traits on seabirds' foraging decisions in productive marginal sea ecosystems. Our study also provides valuable insights into the foraging ecology of this Asian endemic storm-petrel.

Generating advanced CAR-based therapy for hematological malignancies in clinical practice: targets to cell sources to combinational strategies.

Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy has been a milestone breakthrough in the treatment of hematological malignancies, offering an effective therapeutic option for multi-line therapy-refractory patients. So far, abundant CAR-T products have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration or China National Medical Products Administration to treat relapsed or refractory hematological malignancies and exhibited unprecedented clinical efficiency. However, there were still several significant unmet needs to be progressed, such as the life-threatening toxicities, the high cost, the labor-intensive manufacturing process and the poor long-term therapeutic efficacy. According to the demands, many researches, relating to notable technical progress and the replenishment of alternative targets or cells, have been performed with promising results. In this review, we will summarize the current research progress in CAR-T eras from the "targets" to "alternative cells", to "combinational drugs" in preclinical studies and clinical trials.

The development of honey pineapple jam production facilities in Bantaeng Regency

Bunga Resky pineapple jam processing industry is located in Bantaeng Regency, which processes pineapples obtained from its own managed land. This industry has the potential with abundant fruit production during the harvest season. However, there are limitations related to the layout of the production facilities. The purpose of this research is to determine the pattern of development design in the pineapple jam processing industry at UKM Bunga Resky in Bantaeng Regency using Activity Relationship Chart (ARC) and BLOCPLAN. There are 20 altenative layout options generated by the BLOCPLAN method, with the layout selected based on the R-Score values approaching 1 and the lowost rail-dist score while considering the existing conditions in the industry. The selected layout is the layout 8, chosen because it has the best production flow suitability.

THE INFLUENCE OF FEMALE ANCESTORS ON MILK PERFORMANCE IN FIRST- CALF COWS OF THE HOLSTEIN BREED DAIRY CATTLE OF DOMESTIC SELECTION

The results of studies on the influence of female ancestors on the milk performance in first-calf cows of the Holstein breed of dairy cattle of domestic selection are presented. The highest values of milk yield, the amount of milk fat and protein, as well as the mass fraction of protein in milk were observed in daughters whose mothers’ milk yield was over 10,000 kg and amounted to 9295 (p≤0.01), 341.3, 313.3 (p≤0.01) kg, 3.37% (p≤0.05), respectively. First-calf cows with a milk yield of MM 9001-9500–9227 kg (p≤0.001) have a high degree of abundant milk production. They also had the highest amount of milk fat and protein, which amounted to 344.8 (p≤0.01) and 309.4 (p≤0.001) kg, respectively. The highest milk yield, milk fat and protein content were in first-calf cows with a milk yield of MF over 14.000 kg. The realization of the genetic potential for milk yield over 305 days of lactation was 102.1%.

Sustainable design of high-performance multifunctional carbon electrodes by one-step laser carbonization for supercapacitors and dopamine sensors.

Laser carbonization is a rapid method to produce functional carbon materials for electronic devices, but many typical carbon precursors are not sustainable and/or require extensive processing for electrochemical applications. Here, a sustainable concept to fabricate laser patterned carbon (LP-C) electrodes from biomass-derived sodium lignosulfonate, an abundant waste product from the paper industry is presented. By introducing an adhesive polymer interlayer between the sodium lignosulfonate and a graphite foil current collector, stable, abrasion-resistant LP-C electrodes can be fabricated in a single laser irradiation step. The electrode properties can be systematically tuned by controlling the laser processing parameters. The optimized LP-C electrodes demonstrate a promising performance in supercapacitors and electrochemical dopamine biosensors. They exhibit high areal capacitances of 38.9 mF cm-2 in 1 M H2SO4 and high energy and power densities of 4.3 μW h cm-2 and 16 mW cm-2 in 17 M NaClO4, showing the best performance among biomass-derived LP-C materials reported so far. After 20 000 charge/discharge cycles, they retain a high capacitance of 81%. Dopamine was linearly detected in the range of 0.1 to 20 μM with an extrapolated limit of detection of 0.5 μM (S/N = 3) and high sensitivity (13.38 μA μM-1 cm-2), demonstrating better performance than previously reported biomass-derived LP-C dopamine sensors.

Implementation of K-Means Clustering in Food Security by Regency in East Java Province in 2022

Food is the main need that society must fulfill. If food security is disrupted, it will have a negative impact on the nation's life. The agricultural sector has an important role in West Java Province. This province has a large area of agricultural land, so it has high potential to produce abundant agricultural production. However, knowing the adequate number of farmers is very important. Therefore, the implementation of K-Means Clustering can make a significant contribution to the East Java Provincial Agriculture Service in grouping farmers by district. To achieve optimal results, determining the best K value needs to be considered carefully. K-Means Cluster Analysis is a method of non-hierarchical Cluster Analysis that groups data into one or more groups. Data with the same characteristics is grouped into one cluster and data with different characteristics is grouped into another cluster. The data used in this research are land area and rice production in the Regency of East Java Province in 2022. Based on the results of research with the object of Food Security, it can be concluded that, the results of the analysis of the application of manual data mining calculations in Excel Software using the K-Means Clustering method, resulted in two types of clustering in the form of C0, namely the Highest Land Area and Production group with 4 districts: Jember Regency, Ngawi Regency, Bojonegoro Regency and Lamongan Regency, for C1 clustering, namely the Lowest Land Area and Production group with 25 districts in East Java Province

Excited hadron channels in hadronization

The proper treatment of hadronic resonances plays an important role for many aspects of heavy ion collisions. We expect this to be the case also for hadronization, due to the large degeneracies of excited states, and the abundant production of hadrons from their decays. We show how a comprehensive treatment of excited meson states can be incorporated into quark recombination, and in extension, into Hybrid Hadronization. We discuss in detail the quantum mechanics of forming excited states, utilizing the Wigner distribution functions of angular momentum eigenstates of isotropic 3-D harmonic oscillators. We describe how resonance decays can be handled, based on a set of minimal assumptions, by creating an extension of hadron decays in PYTHIA 8. Finally, we present a study of hadron production by jets using PYTHIA and Hybrid Hadronization with excited mesons up to orbital angular momentum L = 4. We find that states up to L = 2 are produced profusely by quark recombination.

Planning Strategy Analysis Of Head Less Vannamei (L. Vannamei) Frozen Shrimp Processing Units In Kaur District, Bengkulu Province

Kaur Regency is one of the regencies in Bengkulu Province which has abundant production of vannamei shrimp (L. vannamei). The trend of vannamei shrimp (L. vannamei) production in Kaur Regency is always increasing every year. The production of vannamei shrimp (L. vannamei) in Kaur Regency in 2019 reached 950 tons until 2021 it reached 4,524 tons. The production results have not been utilized optimally by farmers but are only sold in the form of fresh shrimp. This study aims to determine priority strategies that can be developed in planning the head less vannamei (L. vannamei) frozen shrimp processing unit in Kaur Regency, Bengkulu Province. The data used consists of primary data and secondary data. Primary data was obtained from observations, interviews and questionnaires, while secondary data was obtained through publications, literature and processed using descriptive analysis and SWOT analysis methods. The results showed that the planning position of the head less vannamei (L. vannamei) frozen shrimp processing unit in Kaur Regency was in quadrant 1 (Aggressive Strategy) which meant fully utilizing all strengths through existing opportunities. Based on the results of the research, the priority strategy chosen is to build relationships between the government, stakeholders related to shrimp cultivators to collect production results, and an approach to local banks to be able to lend business capital.

Recombinant DNA technology: revolutionizing regenerative medicine and empowering nanotechnology strategies

In the past century, the concept of controlling gene expressions to enhance desirable traits in living organisms through recombinant DNA technology was merely a concept. However, in recent times, this field has made significant advancements, offering unique benefits to human life. Recombinant DNA technology allows for the safe, accessible, and abundant production of crucial proteins needed for addressing various health issues. Through laboratory methods of genetic manipulation, scientists generate recombinant DNA molecules by merging genetic material from various origins that wouldn’t naturally occur within organisms. Although the chemical structure of DNA is the same across all organisms, the nucleotide sequences vary. The application of recombinant DNA technology extends to diverse fields such as regenerative medicine, nanotechnology, and tissue engineering, allowing for the production of proteins with specific characteristics and effectiveness. This article will delve into the prevalent applications of recombinant DNA technology within fundamental research, highlighting its crucial role in contemporary endeavours across the realms of biological and biomedical sciences, particularly within the fields of regenerative medicine and nanotechnology.

Properties of RCA stabilized with alkali-activated steel slag based materials in pavement base: Laboratory tests, field application and carbon emissions

The extensive use of traditional binders (cement/lime) has caused serious resource consumption, environmental degradation, and carbon emission issues. Recycling industrial waste as a novel waste-based binder is a promising alternative. This paper purports to effectively stimulate the activity of steel slag (SS) and develop a novel eco-friendly pavement base mixture (NEPBM). A series tests of microscopic characterization, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), splitting strength (STS), freeze-thaw cycles, shrinkage, and field application were conducted to evaluate the performance of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) pavement bases stabilized with alkali-activated SS based material (denoted as ACM). The results show that the potential activity of waste SS is strongly activated by alkaline activators, and the depolymerization-diffusion-polymerization reaction occurs to generate abundant additional gel products, thus the strength of ACM at 28-day reaches to 45.24 MPa. The mixtures with 50% ACM substitution rate is close to the control group in performances of UCS, STS, and resistance freeze-thaw cycle. The decrease (12.1 ×10−6) of dry shrinkage coefficient is far higher than the increase (1.11 ×10−6·℃−1) of temperature shrinkage coefficient, which effectively reduces the risk of early cracking. The field application indicates that the UCS of NEPBM at 7-day reaches to 4.26 MPa, which meets the technical requirements for heavy traffic of classⅠhighways in China, the construction cost of NEPBM reduces to 15.72 USD/m3, and the CO2 emissions reduces to 31.335 kg/m3. The results show that using NEPBM as a pavement base is a viable solution, which will be conducive to promoting the development of transportation infrastructure with excellent shrinkage performance and lower carbon footprint emissions.

Physicochemical properties, antioxidant activities, β-carotene content, and sensory properties of cookies from pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) and modified cassava flour (Manihotesculenta)

In a tropical region, pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) and cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) are abundant agricultural products in Indonesia. Pumpkin is a rich source of several metabolites, including carbohydrates, protein, carotenoids, tryptophan, sterols, and fatty acids. At the same time, modified cassava flour (mocaf) is widely used in food product formulation since it benefits human health, such as gluten-free. The present studies aim to evaluate the effect of pumpkin flour addition on the physicochemical properties, sensory properties and antioxidant activities of mocaf-based cookie products. There were three formulations of mocaf-pumpkin cookies (85:15%, 77.5:22.5%, 70:30%) and two controls consisting of wheat flour cookies (100%) and mocaf cookies (100%). The results showed that the mocaf-pumpkin cookies have similar properties on surface morphology, functional groups, and crystallinity, evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR) and x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), respectively. The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed that mocaf-pumpkin cookies, with a ratio of 77.5:22.5%, had the highest beta-carotene content as of 1.100 μg/g. The antioxidant assay revealed that mocaf-pumpkin cookies with a ratio of 77.5:22.5 % had the highest value of 14.03 % at 1000 ppm. Furthermore, the sensory evaluation showed that the mocaf-pumpkin cookie with a ratio of 77.5:22.5% was the more acceptable formulation. The result of this study indicated that pumpkin flour combined with mocaf in cookie production has a potential benefit to human health as the source of natural antioxidants.

Influence of circulation processes on cyanobacteria bloom and phytoplankton succession in the Baltic Sea coastal area

Many studies related to the influence of eddies on the primary production chain of marine ecosystems have been conducted; however, this effect tends to be regionally specific, especially in coastal dynamic waters. In the Baltic Sea, mesoscale and submesoscale eddies are a ubiquitous feature of water circulation during summer, when diazotrophic cyanobacteria blooms occur in surface waters due to the excess of phosphorus in seawater. Climatic change may increase the frequency and duration of these negative events in the marine ecosystem. We examined the taxonomic composition, abundance, and primary production of phytoplankton in the southeastern Baltic Sea during the occurrence of the packed eddy system at the end of the abnormally warm summer of 2018. Massive cyanobacteria growth was observed in the plume of the eutrophic Vistula Lagoon in the Gulf of Gdansk. The only species diazotrophic Dolichospermum flos-aquae ((Bornet & Flahault) P. Wacklin, L. Hoffmann & Komárek, 2009) vegetated along the western coast of the Sambia Peninsula. Its colonies reached the highest biomass nearby the dumping site of the Amber Mining Plant in Yantarny, Kaliningrad Region, Russia. The cyanobacteria colonies dispersed in the outgoing jet of a relatively warm eddy dipole. Chrysochromulina spp. (Lackey, 1939) was dominant in these nitrogen-rich waters. In contrast, cryptophyte species dominated in the relatively cold waters of the dipole anticyclone that resulted in a fourfold decline in primary production. The decrease in the number of mobile phytoplankton species was revealed within the “old” eddies near the northern coast of the Sambia Peninsula and the Curonian Spit. Meanwhile, species of the spring–autumn complex Coscinodiscus granii (Gough, 1905), Peridiniella catenate ((Levander) Balech, 1977) and other developed in the community. This implies that the appearance of eddies can cause phytoplankton succession in the coastal area. The mechanism of their influence was similar to the action of other physical factors perturbing a relatively stationary environment. Capture of cyanobacterial colonies by eddies led to an improvement of the ecological situation in the area, as cyanobacteria transported their biomass outside the coastal area. However, the opposite direction processes obviously were the deterioration of light conditions, increased water turbidity, and organic matter concentration.

Οπτικά ενθύμια του ροδιακού κωμωδεῖν

The comic theatrical act in Rhodes is represented by a catalogue of 45 comic masks and figurines, all recovered during rescue excavations in the city of Rhodes. This group of masks and figurines cover a period of about three centuries, consisting representative samples of an abundant Rhodian artistic production inspired by the theater during the Hellenistic period, when Rhodes emerges as a strong and prosperous naval power and becomes a cultural and intellectual center as well. The following catalogue includes depictions of comic types such as caricatures and grotesque figures along with protagonist types of the Rhodian comedians related to the New Comedy characters, guided by the literal source for information in stage presentation of drama theatrical types, the Onomasticon of Julius Pollux and the T.B.L. Webster’s catalogue.

Mechanism of carbonate assimilation by intraplate basaltic magma and liquid immiscibility: example of Wangtian’e volcano (Changbaishan volcanic area, NE China)

The balance of CO2 during abundant basaltic magma production is an important factor of volcanic hazards and climate. In particular, this can be explored based on CO2-rich mantle-derived magmas or carbonate assimilation by basaltic melts. To reconstruct the origin of Fe-rich carbonates hosted by Cenozoic basalts from Wangtian’e volcano (northeast China), we studied elemental compositions of melt, crystalline and fluid inclusions in magmatic minerals as well as the oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of the plagioclase and carbonates from basalts. The crystallization of basaltic magmas occurred in shallow chamber (∼4 km) at temperatures of 1,180°C–1,200°C and a pressure of 0.1 ± 0.01 GPa. Stable Fe-rich carbonates occur in the Wangtian’e tholeiite basalts as groundmass minerals, crystalline inclusions in plagioclase and globules in melt inclusions, which suggests that they crystallized from a ferrocarbonate melt. The values of δ18О and δ13С in the minerals analyzed by laser fluorination method are in line with the sedimentary source of Fe-rich carbonates, indicating assimilation and partial decomposition of carbonate phases. The parent ferrocarbonate melt could be produced during interactions between the basaltic magma and the crustal marbles. The phase diagram and thermodynamic calculations show that the ferrocarbonate melt is stable at a temperature of 1,200°C and a pressure of 0.1 GPa. Our thermodynamic calculations show that carbonate melt containing 73 wt% FeCO3, 24 wt% MgCO3 and 3 wt% CaCO3 is in thermodynamic equilibrium with silicate melt in agreement with our natural observations. The proposed mechanism is crustal carbonate sediment assimilation by the intraplate basaltic magma resulting in the melt immiscibility, production of the ferrocarbonate melt and the following Fe-rich carbonate mineral crystallization during magma residence and cooling.

The past and present of breeding in dairy cattle breeding in the Far North-East

Based on historical facts and past achievements, the work is designed to update the importance and prove the possibility of successful breeding work at the regional level in order to increase the production of high-quality, socially significant food products to ensure food security. At the beginning of the formation of agricultural science in the Magadan region, scientists were faced with the task of selecting the optimal breeds for the region. More than 4000 cows were examined during 1964–1967. It was found that in extreme natural and climatic conditions of the Magadan region the Kholmogory breed proved to be the best one. In 1967, in order to further improve the Kholmogory breed, the first attempt was made to study the genealogical structure of the herd, to identify and evaluate highly productive lines. In 1974, in order to increase the milk fat content of crossbred cows of the Kholmogory breed, introductory crossing with the bulls of the Ayrshire breed, tested for the quality of the offspring, was used. In order to improve dairy herds, the selection of cows for hereditary traits is combined with checking them for the first lactation. Since 1976, state farms began to study the breeding and productive qualities of the Ayrshire cattle, which were distinguished by high milk production and high fat content in milk. Since 1982, the Ayrshire breed has been approved as a planned breed for breeding in the farms of the Okhotsk zone. In the same year, absorptive crossbreeding of the animals of the Kholmogory breed with the sires of the Ayrshire breed began. In order to increase the efficiency of breeding for abundant milk production, work began on the farms to increase the hereditary variability of this trait through breeding along lines and families. At the same time, the work on improving the Kholmogory cattle by introductory crossbreeding with the purebred bulls of the Holstein-Friesian breed continued. By the 1990s, the main vector of development was the creation of highly productive herds of dairy cattle, but the difficult financial situation at farms in the 1990s led to a sharp decrease in the number of cattle and the productivity of the remaining animals.