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Farmers in Afghanistan are growing poppies in government-controlled areas, insisting that there are no real economic alternatives to cultivating the flowers for the opium trade. It's estimated that Afghanistan's poppy fields are the source for much of the world's illegal heroin supply.

1.1 What impact might production downtime or circumstances with similar effect have on supply contracts? Reduced production or similar measurements and resulting supply shortages can cause severe problems to distributors or intermediaries, as they ...

Highways England are moving forward with the A303 Stonehenge project (A303) and the Lower Thames crossing (LTC) and will be starting their market and supply chain engagement in March 2018. These projects are two of the largest in Highway England's R...

In the first article of our blockchain series, we explained how the use of blockchain technology had the potential to offer s...

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A surprise jump in Chinese exports in April will be short-lived, analysts said, with the world’s second largest economy unable to stay sheltered from the demand shock to come from the global economic downturn.A 3.5 per cent rise in shipments last month caught economists by surprise and left them scrambling for explanations as the consensus forecast was for an 11 per cent contraction.The rise was, in part, due to factories coming back online in China in March and April to fulfil orders that had…

The partnership will ensure farmers get the input not only at the correct price but also at the right time.

The production processes and supply chains that feed into the production of masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment must be secured.

The pandemic reinforces the need for reliable energy services to support healthcare. Clean, renewable power is a good place to start.

As the pandemic continues, the supply chains producing vital personal protective equipment are starting to fail, causing shortages. Countries and international organizations can fill these gaps by working together.

The pandemic has highlighted the shortcomings of the globalized supply chain model.

Nepal has 2.7% of the earth’s freshwater, yet the people of Kathmandu, Nepal’s most developed region, struggle with scarce water supply.

ADB joined the governments of Tonga and Australia in an inauguration ceremony today to officially mark the completion of upgrading work of the Mataki’eua water supply system as part of the ADB-supported Nuku’alofa Urban...

Rep. McSally Visits Microchip Executives to Discuss Semiconductor Supply Chain Resilience in the U.S. Amid Defense Industrial Base Report Findings

ADB projects in Nepal are strengthening the nation's electricity transmission system while improving people's lives at the grassroots level.

Approved project 54119-001 in China, People's Republic of.

This brief examines the global shortage of the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to tackle COVID-19 and suggests policy implications.

ATMX150RHA Power-supply sequencing

Zhi-Jun Zhao, Davina Derous, Abby Gerrard, Jing Wen, Xue Liu, Song Tan, Catherine Hambly, and John R. Speakman

Lactating mice increase food intake 4- to 5-fold, reaching an asymptote in late lactation. A key question is whether this asymptote reflects a physiological constraint, or a maternal investment strategy (a ‘restraint’). We exposed lactating mice to periods of food restriction, hypothesizing that if the limit reflected restraint, they would compensate by breaching the asymptote when refeeding. In contrast, if it was a constraint, they would by definition be unable to increase their intake on refeeding days. Using isotope methods, we found that during food restriction, the females shut down milk production, impacting offspring growth. During refeeding, food intake and milk production rose again, but not significantly above unrestricted controls. These data provide strong evidence that asymptotic intake in lactation reflects a physiological/physical constraint, rather than restraint. Because hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (Npy) was upregulated under both states of restriction, this suggests the constraint is not imposed by limits in the capacity to upregulate hunger signalling (the saturated neural capacity hypothesis). Understanding the genetic basis of the constraint will be a key future goal and will provide us additional information on the nature of the constraining factors on reproductive output, and their potential links to life history strategies.

Brad A. Seibel and Curtis Deutsch

The capacity to extract oxygen from the environment and transport it to respiring tissues in support of metabolic demand reportedly has implications for species’ thermal tolerance, body-size, diversity and biogeography. Here we derive a quantifiable linkage between maximum and basal metabolic rate and their oxygen, temperature and size dependencies. We show that, regardless of size or temperature, the physiological capacity for oxygen supply precisely matches the maximum evolved demand at the highest persistently available oxygen pressure and this is the critical PO₂ for the maximum metabolic rate. For most terrestrial and shallow-living marine species, this "P_crit-max" is the current atmospheric pressure, 21 kPa. Any reduction in oxygen partial pressure from current values will result in a calculable decrement in maximum metabolic performance. However, oxygen supply capacity has evolved to match demand across temperatures and body sizes and so does not constrain thermal tolerance or cause the well-known reduction in mass-specific metabolic rate with increasing body mass. The critical oxygen pressure for resting metabolic rate, typically viewed as an indicator of hypoxia tolerance, is, instead, simply a rate-specific reflection of the oxygen supply capacity. A compensatory reduction in maintenance metabolic costs in warm-adapted species constrains factorial aerobic scope and the critical PO₂ to a similar range, between ~2 and 6, across each species’ natural temperature range. The simple new relationship described here redefines many important physiological concepts and alters their ecological interpretation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Endovascular treatment of petrous dural AVFs may carry a risk of iatrogenic facial nerve palsy if the facial nerve arterial arcade, an anastomotic arterial arch that supplies the geniculate ganglion, is not respected or recognized. Our purpose was to demonstrate that the use of a treatment strategy algorithm incorporating detailed angiographic anatomic assessment allows identification of the facial nerve arterial arcade and therefore safe endovascular treatment.

In the third quarter (Q3) of this year, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) saw no new supply of affordable housing entering the market. Low profit margin has made this segment unattractive to housing developers.

Unlikely to happen but interesting idea

The crisis over shortages of vital protective clothing for doctors and nurses was laid bare today with the leak of plans to start re-using disposable equipment.

The Government is under increasing pressure to provide NHS staff with vital personal protective equipment (PPE), as supplies dwindle at the height of the coronavirus crisis.

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"Our premise has always been to change an industry which is traditionally quite bad, and become sustainable"

Follow our live coronavirus updates here Coronavirus: the symptoms

"The covid-19 pandemic proves exactly why transparency in the fashion industry is so vital"

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has offered to supply "food packages of everyday essentials" to the elderly in his hometown of Mosborough in South Yorkshire.

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has revealed in partnership with FareShare, his charity scheme is supplying over two million meals a week to those in need across the UK, adding he will double his initial personal donation.

US government vets said to be ready to assist with culls, or ‘depopulation’ of pigs, chickens and cattle because of coronavirus meat plant closures

Covid-related slaughterhouse shutdowns in the US are leading to fears of meat shortages and price rises, while farmers are being forced to consider “depopulating” their animals.

More than 20 slaughterhouses have been forced to close, although some have subsequently reopened. On Tuesday President Trump issued an executive order to keep slaughterhouses open which would, he said, help solve liability problems for meat companies.

Specialty chemicals company Evonik has kicked off a major expansion project at two German facilities,…

Gilead Sciences scored a massive win earlier this week with its first positive data readout for investigational candidate remdesivir in treating patients with severe COVID-19. Gilead already has its own supply of the drug humming in anticipation of high demand, but opportunities are out there for a partner to join in. 

A Middlesex, N.J., industrial pipes, valves and fittings supply company and its co-owner pleaded guilty today to participating in a fraud conspiracy at two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund sites in New Jersey. The sites are Federal Creosote, located in Manville, N.J., and Diamond Alkali, located in Newark, N.J.

An Iranian citizen and his Tehran business have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and advanced aerial cameras for fighter bombers from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia, Ireland and the Netherlands. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program.

An Irish trading company and three of its officers have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and other aircraft components from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program.

Jacques Monsieur, a Belgian national and resident of France suspected of international arms dealing for decades, has been arrested on charges alleging that he conspired to illegally export F-5 fighter jet engines and parts from the United States to Iran.

Jacques Monsieur, a Belgian national and resident of France suspected of international arms dealing for decades, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama to conspiracy to illegally export F-5 fighter jet engines and parts from the Untied States to Iran.

Manual Deluna has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with his role in Memorial Medical Supply, a Houston durable medical equipment company.

The Department of Justice has reached a settlement that will require GrafTech International Ltd., a major producer of graphite electrodes, to make significant modifications to its supply agreement with ConocoPhillips Company, along with reporting and firewall obligations, in order to proceed with its proposed acquisition of Seadrift Coke LP.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today held the fifth of five joint public workshops to explore the appropriate role for antitrust and regulatory enforcement in American agriculture.

The office manager of a Los Angeles durable medical equipment (DME) company pleaded guilty today to conspiring with her former church pastor to run a power wheelchair scheme that defrauded Medicare of more than $6 million, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.