EXPORT ENHANCEMENT STRATEGIES FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL FIRMS

Literature reports that small and medium firms face greater difficulty in obtaining the necessary export market information and in obtaining financing than do larger firms. Accordingly, the United States has many export promotion and enhancement services, but there is little documentation on the impacts of these services on small and medium rural and agricultural firms. The objectives of this project were to 1) analyze the export assistance needs of small and medium rural and agricultural firms operating in the Northern Plains region at different stages of the export or internationalization process, 2) identify available export assistance and promotion services offered at the federal and state levels to meet the needs of these firms, and 3) identify factors that may increase the effectiveness of export assistance programs. The primary assistance these firms wanted from the government was help in documenting their exports. The primary reasons firms did not seek government assistance were a lack of knowledge of the service and the service is not useful. The most often used non-government information sources were trade or industry associations and banks. Accordingly, policy makers should emphasize programs that complement efforts of private organizations and that target the needs and interests of the firms.export, rural, agriculture, export assistance, Northern Plains, government, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development,

Silk-fibronectin protein alloy fibres support cell adhesion and viability as a high strength, matrix fibre analogue

Silk is a natural polymer with broad utility in biomedical applications because it exhibits general biocompatibility and high tensile material properties. While mechanical integrity is important for most biomaterial applications, proper function and integration also requires biomaterial incorporation into complex surrounding tissues for many physiologically relevant processes such as wound healing. In this study, we spin silk fibroin into a protein alloy fibre with whole fibronectin using wet spinning approaches in order to synergize their respective strength and cell interaction capabilities. Results demonstrate that silk fibroin alone is a poor adhesive surface for fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells in the absence of serum. However, significantly improved cell attachment is observed to silk-fibronectin alloy fibres without serum present while not compromising the fibres' mechanical integrity. Additionally, cell viability is improved up to six fold on alloy fibres when serum is present while migration and spreading generally increase as well. These findings demonstrate the utility of composite protein alloys as inexpensive and effective means to create durable, biologically active biomaterials.T32 EB006359 - NIBIB NIH HH

Interactions between carbon and nitrogen dynamics in estimating net primary productivity for potential vegetation in North America

We use the terrestrial ecosystem model (TEM), a process-based model, to investigate how interactions between carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics affect predictions of net primary productivity (NPP) for potential vegetation in North America. Data on pool sizes and fluxes of C and N from intensively studied field sites are used to calibrate the model for each of 17 non-wetland vegetation types. We use information on climate, soils, and vegetation to make estimates for each of 11,299 non-wetland, 0.5° latitude × 0.5° longitude, grid cells in North America. The potential annual NPP and net N mineralization (NETNMIN) of North America are estimated to be 7.032 × 1015 g C yr−1 and 104.6 × 1012 g N yr−1, respectively. Both NPP and NETNMIN increase along gradients of increasing temperature and moisture in northern and temperate regions of the continent, respectively. Nitrogen limitation of productivity is weak in tropical forests, increasingly stronger in temperate and boreal forests, and very strong in tundra ecosystems. The degree to which productivity is limited by the availability of N also varies within ecosystems. Thus spatial resolution in estimating exchanges of C between the atmosphere and the terrestrial biosphere is improved by modeling the linkage between C and N dynamics. We also perform a factorial experiment with TEM on temperate mixed forest in North America to evaluate the importance of considering interactions between C and N dynamics in the response of NPP to an elevated temperature of 2°C. With the C cycle uncoupled from the N cycle, NPP decreases primarily because of higher plant respiration. However, with the C and N cycles coupled, NPP increases because productivity that is due to increased N availability more than offsets the higher costs of plant respiration. Thus, to investigate how global change will affect biosphere-atmosphere interactions, process-based models need to consider linkages between the C and N cycles

Reflections 1978

The 1978 issue of Reflections is edited by David Putnam with Joyce Compton Brown and E. M. Blankenship acting as faculty advisers. Cover art is by Dorris Jones and cover lettering by Charles Dyer. Additional art in the issue is by Linda Putnam.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/reflections/1004/thumbnail.jp

Deletion of astroglial CXCL10 delays clinical onset but does not affect progressive axon loss in a murine autoimmune multiple sclerosis model.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by central nervous system (CNS) inflammation, demyelination, and axonal degeneration. CXCL10 (IP-10), a chemokine for CXCR3+ T cells, is known to regulate T cell differentiation and migration in the periphery, but effects of CXCL10 produced endogenously in the CNS on immune cell trafficking are unknown. We created floxed cxcl10 mice and crossed them with mice carrying an astrocyte-specific Cre transgene (mGFAPcre) to ablate astroglial CXCL10 synthesis. These mice, and littermate controls, were immunized with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide 35-55 (MOG peptide) to induce experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). In comparison to the control mice, spinal cord CXCL10 mRNA and protein were sharply diminished in the mGFAPcre/CXCL10fl/fl EAE mice, confirming that astroglia are chiefly responsible for EAE-induced CNS CXCL10 synthesis. Astroglial CXCL10 deletion did not significantly alter the overall composition of CD4+ lymphocytes and CD11b+ cells in the acutely inflamed CNS, but did diminish accumulation of CD4+ lymphocytes in the spinal cord perivascular spaces. Furthermore, IBA1+ microglia/macrophage accumulation within the lesions was not affected by CXCL10 deletion. Clinical deficits were milder and acute demyelination was substantially reduced in the astroglial CXCL10-deleted EAE mice, but long-term axon loss was equally severe in the two groups. We concluded that astroglial CXCL10 enhances spinal cord perivascular CD4+ lymphocyte accumulation and acute spinal cord demyelination in MOG peptide EAE, but does not play an important role in progressive axon loss in this MS model

Comorbidity and Quality of Life in Adults with Hair Pulling Disorder

Hair pulling disorder (HPD; trichotillomania) is thought to be associated with significant psychiatric comorbidity and functional impairment. However, few methodologically rigorous studies of HPD have been conducted, rendering such conclusions tenuous. The following study examined comorbidity and psychosocial functioning in a well-characterized sample of adults with HPD (N=85) who met DSM-IV criteria, had at least moderate hair pulling severity, and participated in a clinical trial. Results revealed that 38.8% of individuals with HPD had another current psychiatric diagnosis and 78.8% had another lifetime (present and/or past) psychiatric diagnosis. Specifically, HPD showed substantial overlap with depressive, anxiety, addictive, and other body-focused repetitive behavior disorders. The relationships between certain comorbidity patterns, hair pulling severity, current mood and anxiety symptoms, and quality of life were also examined. Results showed that current depressive symptoms were the only predictor of quality of life deficits. Implications of these findings for the conceptualization and treatment of HPD are discussed

Electroweak baryogenesis induced by a scalar field

A cosmological pseudoscalar field coupled to hypercharge topological number density can exponentially amplify hyperelectric and hypermagnetic fields while coherently rolling or oscillating, leading to the formation of a time-dependent condensate of topological number density. The topological condensate can be converted, under certain conditions, into baryons in sufficient quantity to explain the observed baryon asymmetry in the universe. The amplified hypermagnetic field can perhaps sufficiently strengthen the electroweak phase transition, and by doing so, save any pre-existing baryon number asymmetry from extinction.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Environmental benefits of chemical propulsion

This paper identifies the necessity of chemical propulsion to satellite usage and some of the benefits accrued through monitoring global resources and patterns, including the Global Climate Change Model (GCM). The paper also summarized how the satellite observations are used to affect national and international policies. Chemical propulsion, like all environmentally conscious industries, does provide limited, controlled pollutant sources through its manufacture and usage. However, chemical propulsion is the sole source which enables mankind to launch spacecraft and monitor the Earth. The information provided by remote sensing directly affects national and international policies designed to protect the environment and enhance the overall quality of life on Earth. The resultant of chemical propulsion is the capability to reduce overall pollutant emissions to the benefit of mankind

Cosmic homogeneity demonstrated with luminous red galaxies

We test the homogeneity of the Universe at $z\sim 0.3$ with the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) spectroscopic sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. First, the mean number $N(R)$ of LRGs within completely surveyed LRG-centered spheres of comoving radius $R$ is shown to be proportional to $R^3$ at radii greater than $R\sim 70 h^{-1} \mathrm{Mpc}$. The test has the virtue that it does not rely on the assumption that the LRG sample has a finite mean density; its results show, however, that there \emph{is} such a mean density. Secondly, the survey sky area is divided into 10 disjoint solid angular regions and the fractional rms density variations of the LRG sample in the redshift range $0.2<z<0.35$ among these ($\sim 2\times10^7 h^{-3} \mathrm{Mpc^3}$) regions is found to be 7 percent of the mean density. This variance is consistent with typical biased \lcdm models and puts very strong constraints on the quality of SDSS photometric calibration.Comment: submitted to Ap