Availability, Attitudes and Willingness to Pay for Local Foods: Results of a Preliminary Survey

This paper presents the results of a preliminary intercept survey of consumers at farmers' markets in Gainesville, Florida in 2007. We developed survey questions to identify: (1) how much fruit and vegetable produce respondents buy from local sources; (2) attitudes regarding local foods; (3) definitions of local by distance and ownership; (4) WTP for local foods; (5) perceptions of the availability and cost of local products; and (6) demographic information. In addition to WTP, we employed several tools- a Likert scale, a cost/availability matrix, and other investigatory and demographic questions - to analyze factors affecting purchasing decisions. These include relative cost, accessibility, attitudes and perceptions of the term 'local.' We report and describe the results of the survey, including a regression analysis of WTP as a function of attitudinal, behavioral, and demographic variables. Given the small sample size, the results are largely not statistically significant. Yet, they are useful for refining the survey instrument for a larger study.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Health Behavior in International Student-Athletes

Context: International student-athletes (ISAs) are a unique population that must overcome challenges associated both with being an international student as well as with being a student-athlete(Bradley, 2000; Bentzinger, 2016). These challenges include the increased likelihood of injury and the subsequent need for healthcare. Athletic trainers are responsible for providing and coordinating healthcare for student-athletes when it is needed. In order to provide high-quality care, it is important that they understand the unique values and experiences of each individual athlete (Unruh, 1998). Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine how cultural factors and past experience impact health behavior in international student-athletes. Intervention: Semi-structured interviews guided by a framework adapted from the Health Traditions Model and The Theory of Health Lifestyles (Spector, 1979; Cockerham, 2012) Findings: ISAs come from a variety of different backgrounds. All grew up with. families that provided them with the support they needed to develop into competitive athletes. Most ISAs move to the U.S for the opportunity of pursuing an education while continuing their athletic career. When competing in collegiate athletes, ISAs develop a fear of becoming injured. This is driven by the threat of lost playing time, jeopardizes their ability to earn a scholarship, as well as the need to navigate a healthcare system with which they are unfamiliar. ISAs lack an understanding of the healthcare system, and hold the perception that American healthcare is unaffordable. The fear of these consequences of injury serve as a source of anxiety for ISAs

High-resolution simulations of stellar collisions between equal-mass main-sequence stars in globular clusters

We performed high-resolution simulations of two stellar collisions relevant for stars in globular clusters. We considered one head-on collision and one off-axis collision between two 0.6 M_sun main sequence stars. We show that a resolution of about 100 000 particles is sufficient for most studies of the structure and evolution of blue stragglers. We demonstrate conclusively that collision products between main-sequence stars in globular clusters do not have surface convection zones larger than 0.004 M_sun after the collision, nor do they develop convection zones during the `pre-main-sequence' thermal relaxation phase of their post-collision evolution. Therefore, any mechanism which requires a surface convection zone (i.e. chemical mixing or angular momentum loss via a magnetic wind) cannot operate in these stars. We show that no disk of material surrounding the collision product is produced in off-axis collisions. The lack of both a convection zone and a disk proves a continuing problem for the angular momentum evolution of blue stragglers in globular clusters.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted by MNRA

Methods for the spatial modeling of forest carbon in the Northern Forest

The ability to accurately assess forest carbon storage is critical to understanding global carbon cycles and the effects of changes in land cover on ecological processes. However, existing methods for calculating carbon storage do not explicitly account for differences in carbon stored by different species of trees. Those methods that do reflect some of this variability, such as remotely-sensing canopy structure to estimate biomass, can be resource-intensive and difficult to reproduce over past or future time steps in order to assess change. I examined the accuracy of several carbon mapping approaches to understand how specificity of forest type classification (for example, classifying forest as sugar maple/birch versus simply deciduous ) affects landscape estimates of forest carbon storage in the northeastern United States. I constructed three distinct models to estimate aboveground and coarse roots forest carbon across the study region. These models varied primarily in the specificity of forest type classifications in the input maps and the corresponding carbon storage estimates used for each type. The forest classification schemes tested, from highest to lowest specificity, were: 1) relative basal area by species, 2) species association classes, and 3) coarse forest types (in accordance with IPCC (2006) guidelines). The specificity of forest type classifications in the input maps did influence results, with higher carbon storage estimates generated by models using coarser forest classifications. Maps generated by models that included relative basal area or species association classifications had similar means and standard deviations to the validation plots, as well as the highest correlations with 1000 random points from a remotely-sensed biomass map, suggesting that they better represent variability in carbon storage across the region; however, this variability was largely driven by the incorporation of stand age. Error increased at higher elevations, and decreased with higher total maple-beech-birch components. This likely reflects the dominance of low elevation hardwoods in the studies on which carbon storage estimate tables are based and demonstrates the importance of matching input estimates to region-specific studies. Current estimates of forest carbon storage from the US Forest Service predict 84-90 Mg/ha in this study area, a low value when compared with my modeled estimates of 104 Mg/ha, 108 Mg/ha, and 118 Mg/ha from the relative basal area, species association, and high IPCC models, respectively. If IPCC carbon estimates are to be applied in the northeastern US, the high end of these ranges should be used. Carbon storage estimates that consider different carbon storage capacities of different tree species are useful to explore temporal trends and relative spatial patterns in carbon storage across heterogeneous landscapes, but because of the coarse resolution and low accuracy of existing stand age maps, remotely-sensed biomass maps may be a better approach to quantify carbon stored at specific locations

Fork-Tailed Drongos (Dicrurus adsimilis) use different types of mimicked alarm calls in response to different alarm threats

Includes bibliographical references.Vocal mimicry is a fascinating phenomenon in the animal kingdom, noted in scientific research as early as the 18th century. Approximately 20% of bird species use vocal mimicry, yet very little is understood regarding why species use vocal mimicry, whether it provides functional benefits and in which contexts vocal mimicry is produced. I propose that some of these species produce alarm mimicry in the appropriate alarm contexts, matching the context of call production by the model species whose calls are mimicked. Previous research suggests that alarm mimicry in the appropriate context could provide heterospecifics with information regarding predators that are in the area. Aerial alarm call mimicry could indicate that an aerial predator is present and may cause individuals to flee, while terrestrial mob call mimicry could indicate the presence of a terrestrial predator and could prompt heterospecifics to aid in the mobbing of the predator. I investigate this possibility in the Fork-Tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), a species renowned for its use of mimicry of other species alarm calls. Natural alarm responses to predators show that drongos produce alarm mimicry in alarms and never in non-alarm contexts. Overall drongos were more likely to mimic alarms in response to terrestrial predators. I then explored whether drongos use mimicked aerial and terrestrial ‘mobbing’ alarm calls in appropriate aerial or terrestrial predator alarm contexts using recordings of responses by drongos both to natural predators, and to experimental presentations of aerial and terrestrial predator and control models . Drongos were more likely to mimic aerial than ‘mob’ terrestrial alarm calls in response to natural and experimentally presented aerial predators. Conversely, they were more likely to mimic ‘mob’ terrestrial than aerial alarm calls in response to natural and experimentally presented terrestrial predators. Comparison of aerial and mob alarm call mimicry with the drongos production of their own equivalent aerial and terrestrial ‘drongo-specific’ alarm calls, revealed that mimicked and drongo-specific alarm calls were produced in similar contexts. These results support research showing that some bird species produce context-dependent alarm mimicry and the implications for the possible function of alarm call mimicry are discussed

Understanding host-microbe interactions in maize kernel and sweetpotato leaf metagenomic profiles.

Functional and quantitative metagenomic profiling remains challenging and limits our understanding of host-microbe interactions. This body of work aims to mediate these challenges by using a novel quantitative reduced representation sequencing strategy (OmeSeq-qRRS), development of a fully automated software for quantitative metagenomic/microbiome profiling (Qmatey: quantitative metagenomic alignment and taxonomic identification using exact-matching) and implementing these tools for understanding plant-microbe-pathogen interactions in maize and sweetpotato. The next generation sequencing-based OmeSeq-qRRS leverages the strengths of shotgun whole genome sequencing and costs lower that the more affordable amplicon sequencing method. The novel FASTQ data compression/indexing and enhanced-multithreading of the MegaBLAST in Qmatey allows for computational speeds several thousand-folds faster than typical runs. Regardless of sample number, the analytical pipeline can be completed within days for genome-wide sequence data and provides broad-spectrum taxonomic profiling (virus to eukaryotes). As a proof of concept, these protocols and novel analytical pipelines were implemented to characterize the viruses within the leaf microbiome of a sweetpotato population that represents the global genetic diversity and the kernel microbiomes of genetically modified (GMO) and nonGMO maize hybrids. The metagenome profiles and high-density SNP data were integrated to identify host genetic factors (disease resistance and intracellular transport candidate genes) that underpin sweetpotato-virus interactions Additionally, microbial community dynamics were observed in the presence of pathogens, leading to the identification of multipartite interactions that modulate disease severity through co-infection and species competition. This study highlights a low-cost, quantitative and strain/species-level metagenomic profiling approach, new tools that complement the assay’s novel features and provide fast computation, and the potential for advancing functional metagenomic studies

The Grass Isn\u27t Always Greener: A Qualitative Study of Indian International Students Attending a Comprehensive University

The purpose of this present study was to explore the problems that Indian subcontinent students who participated in international study programs encountered in their travel abroad. Using a qualitative research methodology, four graduate-level Indian students were interviewed via a semi-structured interview protocol. Participants were asked to share problems they were currently facing or had faced while studying at a midsized, comprehensive institution in the Midwest. Using cross-comparative analysis, verbal interview data were analyzed for common codes and categories and were then grouped into themes. Five themes were apparent: Homesickness, Culture Shock, Discrimination, Language Barriers and Educational Differences, and Other Issues. The Indian participants were also asked for suggestions that might alleviate some of the identified problems. The study provides readers with an inside look into the \u27voices\u27 of the Indian international participants while offering recommendations for both Student Affairs practitioners and future researchers

The Grass Isn\u27t Always Greener: A Qualitative Study of Indian International Students Attending a Comprehensive University

The purpose of this present study was to explore the problems that Indian subcontinent students who participated in international study programs encountered in their travel abroad. Using a qualitative research methodology, four graduate-level Indian students were interviewed via a semi-structured interview protocol. Participants were asked to share problems they were currently facing or had faced while studying at a midsized, comprehensive institution in the Midwest. Using cross-comparative analysis, verbal interview data were analyzed for common codes and categories and were then grouped into themes. Five themes were apparent: Homesickness, Culture Shock, Discrimination, Language Barriers and Educational Differences, and Other Issues. The Indian participants were also asked for suggestions that might alleviate some of the identified problems. The study provides readers with an inside look into the \u27voices\u27 of the Indian international participants while offering recommendations for both Student Affairs practitioners and future researchers