Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cultivating opportunity: do land transfer tools improve land access for beginning farmers?

Abstract A vast amount of agricultural land in the USA will change hands in the coming years as established farmers age and transition out of farm ownership. As a result, beginning farmers are likely to continue to face numerous obstacles as they try to find and purchase the property. Two of the greatest barriers include the high price that farm property usually commands and the steady conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses (e.g., suburban development). Non-profit organizations and government agencies have used conservation easements extensively to protect against conversion of agricultural land, but, too often, that does not ensure affordability for beginning farmers. Accordingly, advocates have developed supplemental land transfer tools intended to enhance conservation easements and help beginning farmers gain access to land. In this exploratory research, we look at two of these novel tools, namely Conservation Buyer Programs (CBPs) and the option to purchase at agricultural value (OPAV). Specifically, we present case studies about two entities that use OPAV and two that use CBPs in order to understand how these tools function and whether they improve land access for beginning farmers. Interviews with professionals and beginning farmers who have worked with these tools in four states inform our analysis and add depth to previous scholarship. We found that OPAV and CBPs can improve access to agricultural land for beginning farmers under certain circumstances. These tools, however, are not panaceas to the challenge land affordability presents, nor are they the only tools used by the entities we studied. CBPs alone have rarely been used to help new farmers; yet, they have been paired effectively with a conservation easement and OPAV. Additionally, we found a similar tool, the simultaneous sale, has been quite effective when paired with OPAV, and less costly than the traditional conservation buyer approach. All of these tools expand the land access toolbox in important ways, but given the paucity of existing scholarship on this topic, additional research is needed. Practitioners and researchers must think critically about whether these tools are the most effective instruments to employ in the effort to get beginning farmers on the land.
Engel Curves for Fair Trade Consumption and Development Perspectives for Producers: Evidence from Data on Real Fairtrade Purchases

Abstract While Fairtrade sales have exhibited two-digit growth rates over recent decades, their capacity to become large enough to generate substantial gains for producers is still uncertain. Estimating Fairtrade Engel curves based on real purchases, this article describes how Fairtrade consumption varies with consumer characteristics and total income. Results show high expenditure elasticities for Fairtrade demand, and suggest that market expansion lies in the growth of income per capita in import countries and in an increase in the diversity, availability, and quality of products. Implications for producers are drawn from the results.
Genetic Analysis of RpL38 and RpL5, Two Minute Genes Located in the Centric Heterochromatin of Chromosome 2 of Drosophila melanogaster

The Minute mutations of Drosophila melanogaster are thought to disrupt genes that encode ribosomal proteins (RPs) and thus impair ribosome function and protein synthesis. However, relatively few Minutes have been tied to distinct RP genes and more Minute loci are likely to be discovered. We have identified point mutations in RpL38 and RpL5 in a screen for factors limiting for growth of the D. melanogaster wing. Here, we present the first genetic characterization of these loci. RpL38 is located in the centric heterochromatin of chromosome arm 2R and is identical to a previously identified Minute, M(2)41A, and also l(2)41Af. RpL5 is located in the 2L centric heterochromatin and defines a novel Minute gene. Both genes are haplo-insufficient, as heterozygous mutations cause the classic Minute phenotypes of small bristles and delayed development. Surprisingly, we find that RpL38−/+ and RpL5−/+ adult flies have abnormally large wings as a result of increased cell size, emphasizing the importance of translational regulation in the control of growth. Taken together, our data provide new molecular and genetic information on two previously uncharacterized Minute/RP genes, the heterochromatic regions in which they reside, and the role of their protein products in the control of organ growth.
Childhood Maltreatment and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation: Associations with Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction among Young Adult Women

This study examined relations among childhood maltreatment, difficulties in emotion regulation, and sexual and relationship satisfaction among young adult women reporting current involvement in committed, romantic relationships. A sample of 192 women (ages 18–25) completed self-report questionnaires as part of an Internet-based survey. It was hypothesized that severity of childhood maltreatment and difficulties in emotion regulation would each independently and negatively predict (a) sexual satisfaction, (b) relationship intimacy, and (c) expression of affection within the context of the relationship. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that greater emotion regulation difficulties would moderate the effects of childhood maltreatment on these sexual and relationship variables (i.e., sexual satisfaction, relationship intimacy, and expression of affection). Findings suggest that difficulties in emotion regulation demonstrated an incremental effect with regard to sexual satisfaction, but not with intimacy and affection expression. In contrast to predictions, no significant interactive effects were documented. Clinical implications and future directions related to this line of inquiry are discussed.
16-Gbaud QPSK radio transmission using optical frequency comb with recirculating frequency shifter for 300-GHz RoF signal

We demonstrate 300-GHz-band radio transmission with a digital coherent detection technique. Quadrature-phaseshift-keying modulation can provide a data rate of 29.9 Gb/s, with 7% forward error correction overhead. A frequency-locked optical frequency comb for a 300-GHz radio-over-fiber signal can be generated by a recirculating frequency shifter with a single sideband suppressed-carrier modulator in an amplified optical fiber loop.
Impact of pretransplant minimal residual disease on the post‐transplant outcome of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

There are few reports on the clinical significance of MRD before HSCT in pediatric ALL. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical significance of FCM‐based detection of MRD (FCM‐MRD) before allogeneic HSCT in pediatric ALL. Of 38 pediatric patients who underwent allogeneic HSCT for the first time between 1998 and 2014, 33 patients were in CR and five patients were in non‐CR. The CR group was further divided into two groups based on the pretransplant FCM‐MRD level: the MRDneg (<0.01%; 30 patients) group and the MRDpos (≥0.01%; three patients) group. There were significant differences in the three‐yr event‐free survival rates between the CR and non‐CR group, and between the MRDneg and MRDpos group. The three‐yr cumulative RI in the MRDneg group were 27.3% ± 8.8%, whereas two of the three patients in the MRDpos group relapsed within one yr after HSCT. The clinical outcome of the MRDpos group was as poor as that of the non‐CR group in pediatric ALL. Therefore, an improvement in pretransplant treatment that aims to achieve a more profound remission would contribute to reducing the risk of relapse.
Automatic enrolment to pension plans in small organisations: a research agenda

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse how firm size impacts pension workforce coverage with a particular focus on automatic enrolment (AE) to pension plans in small organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the alignment of government AE interests with those of small employers, their employees and pension providers to better understand how firm size impacts pension workforce coverage.FindingsThe alignment of interests between stakeholders (government, pension providers, employers and employees) differs between large and small organisations, and empirical findings from large organisations cannot be assumed to apply in small organisations.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper calls attention to the need for future empirical research and identifies a number of research questions for further analysis to examine how AE impacts pension participation in small organisations and advance the field.Originality/valueThe policy of automatically enroling employees into occupational pension plans, recently legislated for all eligible workers in the UK and under consideration in the USA and Ireland, was developed from research conducted in a small number of large organisations. Pension coverage is particularly inadequate for the large number of employees working in small organisations (1–49 employees). However, little research attention has been focussed on pensions in small organisations with pension policy makers assuming that legislated AE will work as effectively in small organisations as it did in large organisations. This paper addresses this gap in the field.
Detecting Group Gender Stereotypes: Opinion-mining vs. Incentivized Coordination Games

Individuals often make decisions based on perceived social norms and stereotypes. It is difficult to elicit such beliefs, since subjects often give inaccurate or "politically correct" responses to subjective, sensitive topics. This paper compares two methodological procedures meant to identify group beliefs. In an experimental setting, I pair a flat-rate, opinion-mining scheme with an incentivized coordination game and compare their effectiveness in identifying the well-documented Math-Gender stereotype. Following a simple math task prime, those in the baseline overwhelmingly stated they individually believed neither sex is inherently more proficient at mathematics, while 72% of those in the incentivized treatment said that they believed "males are more proficient" would be the modal response. Gender nor age drives this focal outcome, however, political orientation correlates to the perception of the stereotype. These results document the usefulness of an incentivized coordination game as a research tool and demonstrate how stereotypes persist independent of whether or not they are individually held or stated. (C81; C91; C92; D91; C7)
Investors’ Misweighting of Firm-level Information and the Market’s Expectations of Earnings

Prior studies use fundamental earnings forecasts to proxy for the market’s expectations of earnings because analyst forecasts are biased and are available for only a subset of firms. We find that as a proxy for market expectations, fundamental forecasts contain systematic measurement errors analogous to those in analysts’ biased forecasts. Therefore, these forecasts are not representative of investors’ beliefs. The systematic measurement errors from using fundamental forecasts to proxy for market expectations occur because investors misweight the information in many firm-level variables when estimating future earnings, but fundamental forecasts are formed using the historically efficient weights on firm-level variables. Thus, we develop an alternative ex ante proxy for the market’s expectations of future earnings (‘the implied market forecast’) using the historical (and inefficient) weights, as reflected in stock returns, that the market places on firm-level variables. A trading strategy based on the implied market forecast error, which is measured as the difference between the implied market forecast and the fundamental forecast, generates excess returns of approximately nine percent per year. These returns cannot be explained by investors’ reliance on analysts’ biased forecasts. Overall, our results reveal that market expectations differ from both fundamental forecasts and analysts’ forecasts.
Effects of imipramine on the transient outward current in rabbit atrial single cells

1 . The effects of imipramine on action potential characteristics and transient outward potassium current (It) of rabbit isolated atrial myocytes were studied using the whole‐cell configuration of the patch‐clamp technique. 2 Imipramine, 3 μm, decreased action potential amplitude and lengthened the action potential duration measured at 50% of repolarization, whereas it did not modify the final phase of repolarization or the resting membrane potential. These results are similar to those reported in multicellular rabbit atrial preparations. 3 Imipramine, 0.1–100 μm, induced a concentration‐dependent inhibition of the peak amplitude of It, a shortening of the time to peak current and an increase in the inactivation rate. The acceleration of the current inactivation is to a major extent responsible for the decrease in the integral of the outward current measured at 50 ms after the start of the pulse. 4 The drug‐induced block of It was not associated with changes in the voltage‐dependence of the steady‐state inactivation curve or in the process of recovery from inactivation of the current. Extrapolation to zero block shows that imipramine did not block It before its activation at the onset of the depolarization. These results suggested that imipramine does not affect the inactivated or the resting state of It channels. 5 It is concluded that in rabbit isolated atrial cells, imipramine inhibits It and that this effect is responsible for the lengthening of the action potential duration produced by this drug.
Arts Entrepreneurship and Cultural Policy Innovation in Beijing

Abstract:This article analyzes three cultural entities in Beijing, China: National Centre for the Performing Arts, 798 Arts District, and Today Art Museum using two lenses: Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework (MS) and concepts of arts entrepreneurship, in order to examine these entities’ development and current condition. The performing arts center has become a source of national pride, the arts district now is one of the world’s largest, and the museum paved the way for a new kind of “private” institution in China.Concepts including policy streams, policy windows, and policy entrepreneurs ground the analysis. In order to enrich the perspective, we explore theories in the growing field of arts entrepreneurship and their applicability to the changing economic environment of China. We point to the realities of policy formation as well as the innovative economic growth fostered through arts entrepreneurship in China, grounding the analysis in a positivist perspective due to the opacity of the process in that country.While Multiple Streams Framework is a powerful tool with which to understand and interpret policy formation, change, and adaptation, it is the arts entrepreneurship principles that provide important ways to look at creative commerce, both from the perepective of the individual and the organization. We find that, while each arts entity was formed under very different circumstances, they all now incorporate facets of arts entrepreneurship including brand building, market development, and audience growth.Frameworks and theories must be flexible and resilient in order to be adapted to more diverse contexts. By reframing cultural policy and arts entrepreneurship theory to incorporate culturally relevant data, they each can provide valuable tools for scholars, policymakers, and municipal leaders. This allows the understanding of key theoretical components to expand, reflecting political and social realities while ensuring the relevance and viability of these analytical tools in multi-cultural contexts.
Serotype and Phage Type Distribution of Salmonella Strains Isolated from Humans, Cattle, Pigs, and Chickens in The Netherlands from 1984 to 2001

ABSTRACT We studied serotypes and phage types of Salmonella strains isolated from humans and animals in The Netherlands over the period 1984 to 2001. All human strains (n = 59,168) were clinical isolates. The animal strains (n = 65,567) were from clinical and nonclinical infections. All isolates were serotyped, and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and serovar Enteritidis strains were further phage typed. The most prevalent serotypes were as follows: in humans, serovars Typhimurium and Enteritidis; in cattle, serovars Typhimurium and Dublin; in pigs, serovar Typhimurium; and in chickens, serovars Enteritidis, Infantis, and Typhimurium. Serovar Enteritidis phage type 4 (pt 4) was the most common phage type in humans and chickens. Serovar Typhimurium pt 510 was the most prevalent serovar Typhimurium phage type in humans and pigs, pt 200 was the most prevalent serovar Typhimurium phage type in cattle, and pt 150 was the most prevalent serovar Typhimurium phage type in chickens. Analysis of the distribution of sero- and phage types during the study period indicated that types shifted over time in humans and animals. Serovar Typhimurium DT 104 emerged in 1991 in humans, cattle, pigs, and chickens and became the most common serovar Typhimurium phage type in 2001. In general, similar sero- and phage types were found in humans and animals, although distinct types were more common in animals. Between the animal species, the sero- and phage type distributions varied considerably.
Is Trade Bad for the Environment? Decomposing the Impact of Trade on Environmental Quality

The impact of trade on environmental quality has received a considerable attention, both in policy debate and in theoretical literature. However, the empirical evidence on the topic remains lagged. This thesis adds to the empirics by unearthing the relationships and decomposing the effect into scale-technique effect and trade-induced composition effect using Arellano-Bond GMM estimation technique. Contrary to previous studies, the scale-technique effect is ascertained by controlling for the role of government. The study then compares the effect between OECD countries and SSA countries. An aggregated panel data on CO2 and N2O spanning from 1983-2008 are used as proxies for environmental quality. The results show that the role of a democratic government in ensuring a favourable scale-technique effect is dominated by the adverse composition effect on CO2 emissions. However, these effects are both bad for N2O emissions. These suggest that trade is generally detrimental to the environment. Comparing the results for OECD and SSA countries, the results also show that trade makes SSA countries relatively dirtier because of the global externality of CO2 emissions. It is therefore imperative that both developed and developing countries broaden their trade policies to encapsulate environmental concerns. (Less)
The Effects of Past Entry, Market Consolidation, and Expansion by Incumbents on the Probability of Entry in Banking

We extend previous research on the determinants of entry into local banking markets. In addition to the variables that have been considered by past research, we consider the correlation of entry with past entry and strategic barriers to entry such as changes in incumbent branching, the presence of small incumbent firms, and market concentration. The analysis defines entry more broadly than has past research by including branch expansion by existing firms. We find significant negative relationships between entry and strategic barriers to entry. Sensitivity analyses find that large changes in the explanatory variables are needed to cause substantial changes in the probability of entry into markets.
Contribution of OCTN Variants Within the IBD5 Locus to Pediatric Onset Crohn's Disease

BACKGROUND & AIMS:The IBD5 locus on chromosome 5q31 is a confirmed Crohn's disease (CD) susceptibility locus in adults. Recently, two polymorphisms in the organic cation transporter (OCTN) gene cluster within the IBD5 locus have been found to be associated with CD. Although the original report of significant linkage to IBD5 was in families with at least one case of early age at onset CD, there are no published reports on the role of OCTN genes in pediatric onset CD. We performed a comprehensive analysis of OCTN variants in an independent, exclusively pediatric onset CD cohort and examined the genotype/phenotype correlations.METHODS:264 Caucasian CD children (172 of them were trios) were genotyped along with 527 controls for OCTN1 (SLC22A4 C1672T), OCTN2 (SLC22A5 G-207C), and two haplotype-tagging SNPs (IGR2230 and IGR2198). RESULTS:TDT confirmed the association of SLC22A4 and SLC22A5. Case-control analysis of the SLC22A4 1672T, SLC22A5−207C diplotype showed significant association (p = 0.04) with CD susceptibility compared with controls. Little correlation was seen with regard to clinical phenotype and the SLC22A4/SLC22A5 diplotype. There was no significant interaction between the SLC22A4/SLC22A5 diplotype and the three CD-associated CARD15 SNPs.CONCLUSIONS:We confirm the association of the OCTN variants (SLC22A4 and SLC22A5) in pediatric onset CD as seen in adult CD cohorts. However, when an extended IBD5 haplotype was examined, no independent association between OCTN variants and pediatric onset CD can be demonstrated. Compared with adults, a relatively weak association of the OCTN variants was observed in our CD cohort. No definitive genotype–phenotype correlation or gene–gene interactions with CARD15 were observed. Although the IBD5 locus is associated with pediatric onset CD, no definitive conclusions can be drawn about OCTN variants as causative genes in pediatric CD at this point.
The Role of Principals in Predominantly African-American Urban Middle Schools With Low Suspension Rates.

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of the principals in predominantly African-American urban middle schools with low suspension rates. The basic research questions were: How do the perceptions of principals in predominantly African-American urban middle schools that have low suspensions rates compare with perceptions of other principals in predominantly African-American urban middle schools; and 2) what alternatives to suspensions do principals use in predominantly AfricanAmerican urban middle schools that have low suspension rates. I approached this study using a mixed methodology strategy, using quantitative and qualitative techniques. Survey items of 54 principals from seven urban middle schools in Louisiana showed significant differences in the way principals responded to various survey items. Four independent variables had significant effects on dependent variables. The four independent variables were: principal’s teaching experience, ethnicity, number of years served in the same school and the size of the school. Four principals from predominantly African-American urban middle schools were selected for case studies. They were observed and interviewed in the fall of 1995. They were compared on the basis o f how they perceived and interpreted the district’s discipline policy, how they perceived and interpreted the district’s suspension policy and how they administered discipline and suspension in their schools. The findings indicate that principals in these schools perceived their district suspension policy as a guide. They followed the district suspension policy but with a
Networking towards sustainable tourism: innovations between green growth and degrowth strategies

ABSTRACT This paper uses network analysis to investigate features of a regional network of tourism enterprises in rural Ireland. In contrast to the economic-driven networks literature, it focuses on socio-ecological goals alongside the economic goals. Acknowledging the heterogeneity of sustainable entrepreneurs, member businesses are categorized by their ideological orientation towards sustainability, ranging from strict green growth to rigid degrowth approaches. The paper argues that sustainability networks support rural areas’ efforts for change; however, degrowth strategists need to be represented as key actors of communication and joint activities in the long term to realize a clear shift away from business as usual.