KENTUCKY WINERIES NETWORKING ACTIVITIES FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN RELATION TO GROWTH AND PROFITABILITY

Tourism plays a vital role in the success and sustainability of the wine industry in Kentucky. In order for the wine tourism industry to be successful in Kentucky, it is essential to continue to find ways to attract visitors to Kentucky wineries. Networking with competitors and other tourism industry stakeholders can be a successful way for winery owners to attract visitors to wineries; however, literature demonstrates that winery owners often need incentive to do so. This research explores the economic impacts of tourism on Kentuckys wineries that network with competitors and tourism industry stakeholders and those that do not. It is determined that those wineries that network, experience increased profitability and growth in sales and consequently, a growth in tourism activities to their winery. Implications related to government and winery owners for the sustained growth of wine tourism in Kentucky are included

Scientific evidence of sustainable plant disease protection strategies for oilseed rape (Brassica napus) in Sweden: a systematic map

BackgroundOilseed rape (OSR; Brassica napus L.) is a highly valued crop for food, feed and industrial use. It is primarily grown in temperate climates, and over recent decades, its area of production and profitability have increased. Concurrently, several diseases negatively impact OSR production. Diseases caused by soil-borne pathogens, pose a risk of substantial yield loss since crop rotation schemes have become narrow as the time lapse between OSR crops in a field has been shortened. The aims of this paper were to provide an overview of plant protection measures available for OSR production and to identify knowledge gaps and areas where more research is needed.MethodsThis systematic map builds on a previously published protocol and follows the ROSES reporting standard. The search strategy was developed in collaboration with stakeholders and designed to cover available scientific evidence for OSR disease management in climate zones relevant for Scandinavian crop production (Dfc, Dfb, Cfb and Cfa in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification). Five scientific databases were used to identify peer-reviewed literature, complemented by additional searches performed in grey literature. Articles were screened at three stages: the title, abstract and full text. The eligible publications included studies of OSR crops, and all measures to control crop disease in agricultural fields were considered eligible interventions. The comparator was intervention and no intervention, and the yield per unit area, disease suppression or an increase in crop quality were determined to be outcomes of interventions. A basic assessment of the experimental design of each study was performed to assess its eligibility. All articles were coded based on the following categories: the location and climate zone, disease, pathogen, intervention and management method, outcome and study design. Articles not reporting original data but judged to be relevant (i.e., review papers, books and notes of registration of cultivars) were saved in a separate category called “books, reviews and reports”.Review findingsA total of 4633 articles were collected through systematic searches. After duplicates were removed, 3513 articles were included in the screening process. After screening at the title and abstract levels, 897 articles were evaluated at the full text level, and 118 articles comprised the studies that met the eligibility criteria of the systematic map. The country (Canada) and region (Europe) with the largest OSR crop production areas also contributed the highest number of articles. In total, 17 different diseases were reported, with black leg (syn. Phoma stem canker) being the most studied disease. Nineteen different intervention methods or management types were examined. Cultivar resistance and pesticide application were the most studied control measures.ConclusionWe report scientific studies on plant disease protection measures for OSR based on field trials where the results are intended to be directly implemented in crop production management. The map clearly provides an overview of research progress throughout the time period chosen, and it identifies knowledge gaps regarding important diseases where only a few studies have been published, for example, diseases caused by viruses

A Theater-Based Approach to Primary Prevention of Sexual Behavior for Early Adolescents

Early adolescence is a crucial period for preventing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. This study evaluated STAR LO, a theater-based intervention designed to affect antecedents of sexual activity among urban early adolescents (N = 1,143). Public elementary/middle schools received the intervention or served as a wait-listed comparison group in a quasi-experimental study. Students completed pretest and posttest questionnaires. Multivariate regression models were used to examine treatment effects. Comparison students showed significantly greater increases in sexual intentions and decreases in pro-abstinence attitudes and intended age of first sex than treatment group adolescents. Comparison girls showed significantly greater increases in desire to be a teen parent than STAR LO girls. Treatment group adolescents exhibited greater increases in sexual knowledge than comparison group adolescents, with stronger effects for boys than girls. The results suggest that this theater-based prevention program can help early adolescents develop knowledge, attitudes, and intentions that may prevent future sexual risk behavior

Polymorphism and Divergence in Two Willow Species, Salix viminalis L. and Salix schwerinii E. Wolf

We investigated species divergence, present and past gene flow, levels of nucleotide polymorphism, and linkage disequilibrium in two willows from the plant genus Salix. Salix belongs together with Populus to the Salicaceae family; however, most population genetic studies of Salicaceae have been performed in Populus, the model genus in forest biology. Here we present a study on two closely related willow species Salix viminalis and S. schwerinii, in which we have resequenced 33 and 32 nuclear gene segments representing parts of 18 nuclear loci in 24 individuals for each species. We used coalescent simulations and estimated the split time to around 600,000 years ago and found that there is currently limited gene flow between the species. Mean intronic nucleotide diversity across gene segments was slightly higher in S. schwerinii (πi = 0.00849) than in S. viminalis (πi = 0.00655). Compared with other angiosperm trees, the two willows harbor intermediate levels of silent polymorphisms. The decay of linkage disequilibrium was slower in S. viminalis compared with S. schwerinii, and we speculate that this is due to different demographic histories as S. viminalis has been partly domesticated in Europe

Cognitive Ergonomics of Assembly Work from a Job Demands–Resources Perspective: Three Qualitative Case Studies

In manufacturing companies, cognitive processing is required from assembly workers\ua0to perform correct and timely assembly of complex products, often with varied specifications and\ua0high quality demands. This paper explores assembly operators’ perceptions of cognitive/mental\ua0workload to provide a holistic understanding of the work conditions that affect cognitive demands\ua0and performance. While the physical loading aspects of assembly work are well known, most\ua0empirical literature dealing with cognitive/mental loading in manufacturing tends to examine a few\ua0particular aspects, rather than address the issue with a holistic system view. This semi-structured\ua0interview study, involving 50 industrial assembly operators from three Swedish companies, explores\ua0how assemblers perceive that their cognitive performance and well-being is influenced by a wide\ua0variety of factors within the context of mechanical product assembly. The interview transcripts were\ua0analysed using a priori coding, followed by bottom-up Thematic Analysis. The results indicate that a\ua0variety of systemic effects on assemblers’ cognitive performance can be classified as job demands\ua0or resources. Quite often, the absence of a resource mirrors a related demand, and “good assembly\ua0conditions”, as described by the interviewees, often re-frame demands as desirable challenges that\ua0foster motivation and positive feelings towards the work. The identified demands and resources\ua0stem from task design, timing, physical loading, intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, social teamwork\ua0and the product’s “interface” design. Despite organisational differences and conditions between the\ua0three companies that took part in the study, the results are largely consistent

High-density linkage mapping and evolution of paralogs and orthologs in Salix and Populus

<p><b>Abstract</b></p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Salix </it>(willow) and <it>Populus </it>(poplar) are members of the Salicaceae family and they share many ecological as well as genetic and genomic characteristics. The interest of using willow for biomass production is growing, which has resulted in increased pressure on breeding of high yielding and resistant clones adapted to different environments. The main purpose of this work was to develop dense genetic linkage maps for mapping of traits related to yield and resistance in willow. We used the <it>Populus trichocarpa </it>genome to extract evenly spaced markers and mapped the orthologous loci in the willow genome. The marker positions in the two genomes were used to study genome evolution since the divergence of the two lineages some 45 mya.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We constructed two linkage maps covering the 19 linkage groups in willow. The most detailed consensus map, S₁, contains 495 markers with a total genetic distance of 2477 cM and an average distance of 5.0 cM between the markers. The S₃consensus map contains 221 markers and has a total genetic distance of 1793 cM and an average distance of 8.1 cM between the markers. We found high degree of synteny and gene order conservation between willow and poplar. There is however evidence for two major interchromosomal rearrangements involving poplar LG I and XVI and willow LG Ib, suggesting a fission or a fusion in one of the lineages, as well as five intrachromosomal inversions. The number of silent substitutions were three times lower (median: 0.12) between orthologs than between paralogs (median: 0.37 - 0.41).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The relatively slow rates of genomic change between willow and poplar mean that the genomic resources in poplar will be most useful in genomic research in willow, such as identifying genes underlying QTLs of important traits. Our data suggest that the whole-genome duplication occurred long before the divergence of the two genera, events which have until now been regarded as contemporary. Estimated silent substitution rates were 1.28 × 10^-9and 1.68 × 10^-9per site and year, which are close to rates found in other perennials but much lower than rates in annuals.</p

COREQ checklist for the research project PreKo, 2018-2021

For the research project “A Model for predictive assessment of cognitive workload – PreKo”,\ua0we (the researchers) have completed a COREQ (Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative\ua0Studies) checklist to transparently convey the\ua0research project’s study design in detail, with regard to the multi-case interview study that was carried\ua0out in the project

A calibration method for non-overlapping cameras based on mirrored phase target

A novel calibration method for non-overlapping cameras is proposed in this paper. A LCD screen is used as a phase target to display two groups of orthogonal phase-shifted sinusoidal patterns during the calibration process. Through a mirror reflection, the phase target is captured by the cameras respectively. The relations between each camera and the phase target can be obtained according the proposed algorithm. Then the relation between the cameras can be calculated by treating the phase target as an intermediate value. The proposed method is more flexible than conventional mirror-based approach, because it do not require the common identification points and is robust to out-of-focus images. Both simulation work and experimental results show the proposed calibration method has a good result in calibrating a non-overlapping cameras system

Test of an interprofessional collaborative practice model to improve obesity-related health outcomes in Michigan

The purpose of the study was to test the effectiveness of an interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) education program on clinicians\u27 and students\u27 knowledge and attitudes toward IPCP and to determine the effectiveness of an IPCP weight loss program in two nurse-managed centers. The study team used the Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education, and Research Center (MIPERC) collaborative practice education program that consists of online learning modules followed by daily huddles and collaborative care planning. The obesity intervention program was implemented by faculty and staff practitioners and students in two clinics with very different patient populations (community residents and college students). Staff/faculty practitioners and students demonstrated statistically significant knowledge gains as a result of online learning modules (Introduction to IPE p \u3c .05; Motivational Interviewing p \u3c .001; Safety Behaviors p \u3c .001; Team Dynamics p \u3c .001). Small, but not statistically significant changes in attitudes toward IPCP were seen with both groups. At program completion, enrolled patients showed statistical significant (p \u3c .001) weight losses and decreases in body mass indices. Other health outcomes showed no significant changes (blood pressure, prevalence of smoking, exercise frequency or duration p \u3e .05). The study demonstrated the potential of an IPCP program to affect weight loss in two populations