Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECTS OF AN INTRODUCTORY AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION COURSE ON AGRICULTURAL LITERACY AND PERCEPTIONS OF AGRICULTURE IN URBAN STUDENTS

Urban agriculture education classrooms may differ physically and culturally from the traditional rural agriculture education classroom. Urban students have little interaction with agriculture, which inhibits their knowledge of agriculture compared to their rural counterparts (Ellibee, 1990). In Understanding Agriculture: New Directions for Education the National Research Council asserts that there are still too many Americans who are unaware of the social and economic value of agriculture in the United States (National Research Council, 1988). However, both rural and agricultural education students should possess an understanding and appreciation of the agricultural industry. This study examined the effects of an introductory course on the agricultural literacy and perceptions of urban students regarding the agriculture industry. Introductory agriculture classes may provide the foundation of agricultural literacy and change students’ stereotypes and views of agriculture. In this study, a literacy and perception questionnaire was administered to students before and after they took an introductory agricultural education course. Upon completion of the introductory agricultural education course, students did increase their agricultural literacy; however, their literacy rates were still low after completing the course. The students showed greatest improvement in agriculture literacy regarding public policy whereas the least improvement was in career related literacy. Differences in the pre-test and post-test course perception scores of students regarding agriculture were not statistically significant. However, students possessed slightly positive attitudes regarding agriculture before and after taking the course. State curriculum decision makers should consider revising the current introductory course to possess more competencies in the affective domain. Other suggestions include creating a middle school course based on building the literacy and positive perceptions of agriculture for students before they attend high school.
Host Feeding Responses of Aedes aegypti (L.) Exposed to Deltamethrin

ABSTRACT: Escape responses of mated and unmated nulliparous Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were compared using three different concentrations of deltamethrin in the presence or absence of a live animal host using an excito-repellency (ER) test system. Both insecticide contact (excitation) and non-contact (repellency) test configurations were compared. For contact trials, mated mosquitoes showed similar escape movements among the three concentrations when host stimuli were absent. Significant differences in responses were seen between the lower concentrations of (LC50 and LC75) deltamethrin with and without hosts present (P<0.05). Presence or absence of host stimuli produced no significant differences in escape response for unmated females when exposed to the highest concentration (LC90) of deltamethrin. Our findings indicate that as deltamethrin concentrations decrease to sublethal levels, mating status and host cues play a more significant role in escape behavior. Therefore, insemination can influence the outcome of feeding success and flight movement of nulliparous female Ae. aegypti in contact with deltamethrin and in the presence of live host stimuli. The ER assay system serves as a useful tool for observing excitation and repellency responses of Ae. aegypti to insecticides in the presence or absence of other environmental and biological cues that can affect mosquito behavior.
Engaging Spaces: On School-based Habitat Restoration

Through a survey of one school board in southern Ontario and a ten-month case study at a school within the board, I aimed to get a sense of participants’ experiences of and stories about schoolbased habitat restoration. Of particular interest to me were the ways that teaching and learning through habitat restoration might foster a lived sense of being in a more-than-human world. In an institutional context which by and large denies access to our earthly fellows, what might be the benefits of allowing students the time and space to step outside and engage with them on an intimate, embodied level?
Apoptosis in the failing human heart.

BACKGROUND Loss of myocytes is an important mechanism in the development of cardiac failure of either ischemic or nonischemic origin. However, whether programmed cell death (apoptosis) is implicated in the terminal stages of heart failure is not known. We therefore studied the magnitude of myocyte apoptosis in patients with intractable congestive heart failure. METHODS Myocardial samples were obtained from the hearts of 36 patients who underwent cardiac transplantation and from the hearts of 3 patients who died soon after myocardial infarction. Samples from 11 normal hearts were used as controls. Apoptosis was evaluated histochemically, biochemically, and by a combination of histochemical analysis and confocal microscopy. The expression of two proto-oncogenes that influence apoptosis, BCL2 and BAX, was also determined. RESULTS Heart failure was characterized morphologically by a 232-fold increase in myocyte apoptosis and biochemically by DNA laddering (an indicator of apoptosis). The histochemical demonstration of DNA-strand breaks in myocyte nuclei was coupled with the documentation of chromatin condensation and fragmentation by confocal microscopy. All these findings reflect apoptosis of myocytes. The percentage of myocytes labeled with BCL2 (which protects cells against apoptosis) was 1.8 times as high in the hearts of patients with cardiac failure as in the normal hearts, whereas labeling with BAX (which promotes apoptosis) remained constant. The near doubling of the expression of BCL2 in the cardiac tissue of patients with heart failure was confirmed by Western blotting. CONCLUSIONS Programmed death of myocytes occurs in the decompensated human heart in spite of the enhanced expression of BCL2; this phenomenon may contribute to the progression of cardiac dysfunction.
Career management issues for flexpatriate international staff

This article reports findings from an in-depth study of a small number of European men and women that identifies organizational activities and their own initiatives to successfully manage their international careers within the context of their personal and family lives. In contrast to prior studies that have focused on issues for expatriate international work assignments, this study focused on flexpatriates—the frequent flyers of international work. The results indicated that, with minimal human resource management (HRM) assistance, flexpatriates were proactive and self-managing in dealing with career issues and the family and personal demands linked to their flexpatriate lifestyles. Similar career issues were evident for men and women, but the impact of home life seemed more significant for women, and the implications of this for HRM are explored. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Omnidirectional Dual-Band Dual Circularly Polarized Microstrip Antenna Using ${\rm TM}_{01}$ and ${\rm TM}_{02}$ Modes

An omnidirectional dual-band dual circularly polarized (CP) antenna with wide beam radiation patterns using TM01 and TM02 modes is investigated. The proposed antenna is composed of a circular patch with eight curved slots and a disk-loaded coaxial probe. The horizontal and vertical polarizations are obtained by the currents flowing on the patch and on the coaxial probe, respectively. Omnidirectional CP fields can be achieved at both resonant modes when the two orthogonally polarizations are equal in amplitude and different in phase by 90°. With a low profile of 0.017 λ0, the proposed antenna exhibits a wide beamwidth of 100° in the elevation plane at both modes. The measured axial ratios (ARs) at the two resonant modes in the azimuth plane are 1.71 and 2.82 dB, respectively. The measured left-hand CP (LHCP) and right-hand CP (RHCP) gains in the azimuth plane are 0.1 dBic at the lower center frequency and -1.1 dBic at the upper center frequency, respectively. These measured results are congruent with the simulated data. In addition, the methods to broaden the bandwidth of the proposed antenna are given and discussed in details.
Agricultural Specialization and Economic Growth

Abstract This paper tests hypotheses derived from traditional economic theory and world systems/dependency theory on the effects of agricultural export specialization on economic growth in the Third World. The data are consistent with the latter since degree of such specialization is negatively related to per capita GNP growth between 1970 and 1980, a trend especially pronounced in relatively well-off peripheral countries.
Effects of Clarithromycin on Cultured Human Nasal Epithelial Cells and Fibroblasts

Objective/Methods: Long‐term administration of clarithromycin has been reported to be effective in the treatment of chronic sinusitis. To investigate the mechanism underlying the anti‐inflammatory activity of clarithromycin, the authors evaluated the effect of clarithromycin on the gene expression of proinflammatory cytokine and the DNA‐binding activity of nuclear factor (NF)‐κB in cultured human nasal epithelial cells and fibroblasts. Cells were incubated with endotoxin purified from nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae or interleukin (IL)‐1β in the presence of clarithromycin.
Self-selection and Analyst Coverage

We examine implications of the conjecture that analysts announce recommendations and forecasts selectively, based upon whether their information about the firm is favorable. We propose this as an alternative to the common assumption that analysts introduce bias into their forecasts, and provide empirical evidence on this alternative. An effect of selective reporting is that ex post observed distributions of earnings forecast errors appear over-optimistic, even if each forecast is unbiased ex ante. This occurs because high forecasts are both more likely to be observed and more likely to be over-optimistic than low forecasts, for any given realization. We find strong evidence supporting the self-selection conjecture in analyst recommendations, and generally consistent evidence in analyst forecast errors. We also document that analysts avoid issuing negative information by sparse use of sell recommendations and by delaying downgrades, but not by avoiding downgrades altogether.
U1A Inhibits Cleavage at the Immunoglobulin M Heavy-Chain Secretory Poly(A) Site by Binding between the Two Downstream GU-Rich Regions

ABSTRACT The immunoglobulin M heavy-chain locus contains two poly(A) sites which are alternatively expressed during B-cell differentiation. Despite its promoter proximal location, the secretory poly(A) site is not expressed in undifferentiated cells. Crucial to the activation of the secretory poly(A) site during B-cell differentiation are changes in the binding of cleavage stimulatory factor 64K to GU-rich elements downstream of the poly(A) site. What regulates this change is not understood. The secretory poly(A) site contains two downstream GU-rich regions separated by a 29-nucleotide sequence. Both GU-rich regions are necessary for binding of the specific cleavage-polyadenylation complex. We demonstrate here that U1A binds two (AUGCN1-3C) motifs within the 29-nucleotide sequence and inhibits the binding of cleavage stimulatory factor 64K and cleavage at the secretory poly(A) site.
A Single Polarized Triangular Grid Tapered-Slot Array Antenna

A triangular grid single polarized tapered-slot array antenna for radar applications is studied. Compared with a rectangular grid an equilateral triangular grid allows a larger unit cell without any onset of grating lobes. Since single polarized tapered-slots in triangular grids support guided modes, which cause scan blindness, the increase in unit cell size is smaller than the optimal 15%. The design presented in the paper is capable of scan angles out to 60° from broadside in the E and H planes. To improve the match over the radar band a local minimum in the active reflection coefficient is positioned at the most critical scan direction, resulting in a reflection coefficient that is less than -12 dB in the X-band. To reduce the radar cross section for the cross-polarization an absorbing layer is positioned above the ground plane, which affects some of the guided modes that lead to scan blindnesses. An experimental antenna with 16 × 16 elements was built, and it was found that the H-plane performance for large scan angles for the finite antenna deviates more than expected from the infinite array approximation. Otherwise both mutual coupling measurements and embedded element patterns agrees well with the numerical results.
Griseofulvin absorption from different sites in the human small intestine

The site‐dependent small‐intestinal absorption pattern of griseofulvin was investigated in man. Griseofulvin was chosen as a model substance having extremely low water solubility and moderate lipid solubility. A conventional steady‐state perfusion technique (triple‐lumen tubing system with a 20 cm test segment) was applied. Dissolved griseofulvin (10.0 mg L−1) was perfused (10 mL min−1) during 160 min into different parts of the small intestine with the middle of the test segment between 85 cm and 270 cm beyond the teeth. Each of the ten healthy volunteers was examined twice with the test segment localized in different regions to allow for intraindividual comparisons. Mean drug absorption rates calculated from intestinal aspirate concentrations were similar in the two intestinal parts (proximal, 15.0 ± 5.9 μg (20cm min)−1; distal, 16.2 ± 4.3 μg (20 cm min)−1; mean ± SD). Absorption rate was strongly correlated to the amount of griseofulvin offered to the test segment per unit time. Extrapolating these findings it follows that an amount of griseofulvin, once dissolved, would be absorbed completely (>99%) along 100 cm of the small intestine. A significant, positive correlation between the rate of transmucosal fluid transport and the absorption rate of griseofulvin was observed in the distal parts investigated.
Designing Choice Sets for Stated Preference Methods: The Effects of Complexity on Choice Consistency

Abstract We vary the complexity of choice sets used in stated preference methods to evaluate the impact on choice consistency. We define five measures of complexity that capture either the amount of information or the correlational structure of information in a choice set. Using these measures as randomly assigned treatments in a large experiment, we analyze the consistency of respondents' choices using a heteroskedastic multinomial logit model. We find that: (i) all of our measures of choice set complexity affect choice consistency, (ii) changes in the correlational structure of information have the largest impact on choice consistency, and (iii) choice complexity significantly distorts welfare estimates. Our results confirm economists' initial worry that moving from contingent valuation to conjoint methods will increase complexity-induced choice inconsistency. However, our analysis also shows that these negative impacts may be mitigated if precautions are taken at the design and estimation stages of stated preference methods.
The Economics of the Uncovered Interest Parity Condition for Emerging Markets

Financial account liberalizations since the second half of the 1980s paved the way for the burgeoning literature that investigates foreign exchange market efficiency in emerging markets (EMs) via testing for the uncovered interest parity (UIP) condition. This paper is the first to provide a broad and critical survey on this recent literature. Specifically, we attempt to answer the following questions. First, are the EMs different from the developed economies in the context of the UIP condition? Second, to what extent can these differences contribute to the debate on the UIP literature? Third, what are the empirical challenges specific to the EMs in testing for the UIP condition?
Essays on Development Economics

The studies in this thesis investigate some of the effects of humanitarian aid and the production of natural resources in developing countries. The studies suggest that these “free lunches” can have negative (unintended) consequences. Even though it achieves its goal of increasing food consumption and life expectancy, humanitarian aid can have adverse effects on government expenditure for education, health, and military purposes. Commodity exports can negatively influence the rule of law, corruption, and political stability and can crowd out other economic activities. But if properly managed windfalls resulting from aid and natural resources can improve economic conditions.
Bonds and Brands: Foundations of Sovereign Debt Markets, 1820-1830

How does sovereign debt emerge? In the early nineteenth century, intermediaries' market power and prestige served to overcome information asymmetries. Relying on insights from finance theory, we argue that capitalists turned to intermediaries' reputations to guide their investment strategies. Intermediaries could in turn commit or else they would lose market share. This sustained the development of sovereign debt. This new perspective is backed by archival evidence and empirical data, and it suggests why strong but undemocratic states could borrow. â€œA good name is worth more than a gem. â€ Yiddish proverb
Governance Matters VI: Governance Indicators for 1996-2006

This paper reports on the latest update of the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) research project, covering 212 countries and territories and measuring six dimensions of governance between 1996 and 2006: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption. This latest set of aggregate indicators, are based on hundreds of specific and disaggregated individual variables measuring various dimensions of governance, taken from 33 data sources provided by 30 different organizations. The data reflect the views on governance of public sector, private sector and NGO experts, as well as thousands of citizen and firm survey respondents worldwide. We also explicitly report the margins of error accompanying each country estimate. These reflect the inherent difficulties in measuring governance using any kind of data. We find that even after taking margins of error into account, the WGI permit meaningful cross-country comparisons as well as monitoring progress over time. In less than a decade, a substantial number of countries exhibit statistically significant improvements in at least one dimension of governance, while other countries exhibit deterioration in some dimensions.
Mergers to Monopoly

Horizontal mergers between firms that have different costs are examined. Owners can transfer technology to an acquired firm and decide whether to consolidate or operate their firms as separate entities in the product market. Thus mergers can exhibit both efficiencies and a market-power effect. The prices of target firms are determined via a bargaining game. An equilibrium sequence of mergers entails the largest firm targeting the next largest rival firm. Initially, this sequence of mergers with technology transfers involves no consolidations and improves welfare. Ultimately, the acquisitions lead to consolidation and may decrease total welfare. Copyright (c) 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
An Exploratory Analysis of Sexual Violence and Rape Myth Acceptance at a Small Liberal Arts University

Male perpetrated sexual violence is a highly prevalent, but underreported, crime on college campuses. Experts state that in order to effectively deal with the problem of sexual violence, it is important to determine the severity and nature of the problem. The purpose of this study was to provide data based evidence to define the actual problem of sexual violence on a specific college campus in order to raise awareness and provide baseline data for further examination of the issue of sexual violence. Risk factors for sexual violence were examined as well as demographic information for male and female students to determine the prevalence of sexual violence and the relationship of these known risk factors with incidents of sexual violence. Alcohol, Greek membership, athletic participation, and rape myth acceptance were analyzed to determine which factors contributed to the problem of sexual violence within this particular setting. Results indicate that sexual violence is a problem that warrants attention and further examination on this campus. Fifty seven female students reported experiencing 229 incidents of sexual violence, with being taken advantage of while too drunk as the most common tactic used against them. Twenty-nine males reported perpetrating 129 incidents of sexual violence. Female athletes were found to have a higher level of acceptance of rape myths than female students not participating in athletics. Fraternity members were found to have a lower level of acceptance of rape myths than male students not belonging to a Greek organization.
A Pseudomonas syringae type III effector suppresses cell wall-based extracellular defense in susceptible Arabidopsis plants

Bacterial effector proteins secreted through the type III secretion system (TTSS) play a crucial role in causing plant and human diseases. Although the ability of type III effectors to trigger defense responses in resistant plants is well understood, the disease-promoting functions of type III effectors in susceptible plants are largely enigmatic. Previous microscopic studies suggest that in susceptible plants the TTSS of plant-pathogenic bacteria transports suppressors of a cell wall-based plant defense activated by the TTSS-defective hrp mutant bacteria. However, the identity of such suppressors has remained elusive. We discovered that the Pseudomonas syringae TTSS down-regulated the expression of a set of Arabidopsis genes encoding putatively secreted cell wall and defense proteins in a salicylic acid-independent manner. Transgenic expression of AvrPto repressed a similar set of host genes, compromised defense-related callose deposition in the host cell wall, and permitted substantial multiplication of an hrp mutant. AvrPto is therefore one of the long postulated suppressors of an salicylic acid-independent, cell wall-based defense that is aimed at hrp mutant bacteria.