Impacts of the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004 on Shareholders’ Wealth in the Tobacco Industry

This study examines the impact and efficiency of the design of the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004 in deregulating the tobacco production industry. Results offer a number of policy implications of which deregulation of an economically challenged industry can be achieved without the use of taxpayer funds.Tobacco Buyout, Tobacco Industry, Event Study, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy,

What Are They Doing Anyway?: Library as Place and Student Use of a University Library

Objective - To determine student use of library spaces, the authors recorded student location and behaviors within the Library, to inform future space design. Methods - The case study method was used with both quantitative and qualitative measures. The authors had two objectives to guide this assessment of library spaces: 1) To determine what library spaces are being used by students and whether students are working individually, communally, or collaboratively and 2) To determine whether students use these spaces for learning activities and/or social engagement. Results - After data collection and analysis, the authors determined students are using individual or communal spaces almost equally as compared with collaborative group spaces. Data also revealed peak area usage and times. Conclusion - Observed student individual and social work habits indicate further need for spaces with ample electrical outlets and moveable tables. Further study is recommended to see whether additional seating and renovated spaces continue to enhance informal learning communities at URI and whether the Library is becoming a “third place” on campus

Restoration of the Red Wolf

WOLFERS IN NORTHEASTERN North Carolina were busy on February 5, 1768. Records from the Tyrrell County courthouse read: “Giles Long and Thomas Wllkinson awarded one pound for a certified wolf scalp; Jeremiah Norman awarded two pounds for certified wolf and wild-cat scalps; Davenport Smithwick awarded one pound for a certified wolf-scalp. Such was the nature of the war on the wolf: people killed them for money. The belief of the time held that the war was necessary because it was humankind\u27s manifest destiny to tame the wilderness. And for the wilderness to be tame, the wolf had to be exterminated. The wolf was resourceful and hardy, but the wolfers persisted with increasingly sophisticated methods of killing. The war lasted 200 years, and the wolf lost.

Habituation of Arctic ground squirrels (Urocitellus parryii) to handling and movement during torpor to prevent artificial arousal

Hibernation is a unique physiological adaptation characterized by periods of torpor that consist of repeated, reversible, and dramatic reductions of body temperature, metabolism, and blood flow. External and internal triggers can induce arousal from torpor in the hibernator. Studies of hibernating animals often require that animals be handled or moved prior to sampling or euthanasia but this movement can induce changes in the hibernation status of the animal. In fact, it has been demonstrated that movement of animals while they are hibernating is sufficient to induce an artificial arousal, which can detrimentally alter experimental findings obtained from animals assumed to be torpid. Therefore, we assessed a method to induce habituation of torpid hibernators to handling and movement to reduce inadvertent arousals. A platform rocker was used to mimic motion experienced during transfer of an animal and changes in respiratory rate (RR) were used to assess responsiveness of torpid Arctic ground squirrels (AGS, Urocitellus parryii). We found that movement alone did not induce a change in RR, however, exposure to handling induced an increase in RR in almost all AGS. This change in RR was markedly reduced with increased exposures, and all AGS exhibited a change in RR ≤ 1 by the end of the study. AGS habituated faster mid-season compared to early in the season, which mirrors other assessments of seasonal variation of torpor depth. However, AGS regained responsiveness when they were not exposed to daily handling. While AGS continued to undergo natural arousals during the study, occurrence of a full arousal was neither necessary for becoming habituated nor detrimental to the time required for habituation. These data suggest that even when torpid, AGS are able to undergo mechanosensory habituation, one of the simplest forms of learning, and provides a reliable way to reduce the sensitivity of torpid animals to handling

Eddington-Limited Accretion in z~2 WISE-selected Hot, Dust-Obscured Galaxies

Hot, Dust-Obscured Galaxies, or "Hot DOGs", are a rare, dusty, hyperluminous galaxy population discovered by the WISE mission. Predominantly at redshifts 2-3, they include the most luminous known galaxies in the universe. Their high luminosities likely come from accretion onto highly obscured super massive black holes (SMBHs). We have conducted a pilot survey to measure the SMBH masses of five z~2 Hot DOGs via broad H_alpha emission lines, using Keck/MOSFIRE and Gemini/FLAMINGOS-2. We detect broad H_alpha emission in all five Hot DOGs. We find substantial corresponding SMBH masses for these Hot DOGs (~ 10^{9} M_sun), and their derived Eddington ratios are close to unity. These z~2 Hot DOGs are the most luminous AGNs at given BH masses, suggesting they are accreting at the maximum rates for their BHs. A similar property is found for known z~6 quasars. Our results are consistent with scenarios in which Hot DOGs represent a transitional, high-accretion phase between obscured and unobscured quasars. Hot DOGs may mark a special evolutionary stage before the red quasar and optical quasar phases, and they may be present at other cosmic epochs.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. Accepted by Ap

Anti-inflammatory effects of a casein hydrolysate and its peptide-enriched fractions on TNFα-challenged Caco-2 cells and LPS-challenged porcine colonic explants

Bioactive milk peptides are reported to illicit a range of physiological benefits and have been proposed as potential functional food ingredients. The objective of this study was to characterize the anti-inflammatory properties of sodium caseinate (NaCAS), its enzyme hydrolysate (EH) and peptide-enriched fractions (5 kDa retentate [R], 1 kDaR and 1 kDa permeate [P]), both in vitro using a Caco-2 cell line, and also ex vivo using a porcine colonic tissue explant system. Caco-2 cells were stimulated with tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and co-treated with casein hydrolysates for 24 h. Following this, interleukin (IL)-8 concentrations in the supernatant were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Porcine colonic tissue was stimulated with lipopolysaccharide and co-treated with casein hydrolysates for 3 h. The expression of a panel of inflammatory cytokines was measured using qPCR. While dexamethasone reduced the IL-8 concentration by 41.6%, the 1 kDaR and 1 kDaP fractions reduced IL-8 by 68.7% and 66.1%, respectively, relative to TNFα-stimulated Caco-2 cells (P < 0.05). In the ex vivo system, only the 1 kDaR fraction elicited a decrease in IL1-α, IL1-β, IL-8, TGF-β and IL-10 expression (P < 0.05). This study provides evidence that the bioactive peptides present in the 1 kDaR fraction of the NaCAS hydrolysate possess anti-inflammatory properties in vitro and ex vivo. Further in vivo analysis of the anti-inflammatory properties of the 1 kDaR is proposed