Man of the Field

The man got kicked in the head by a mareripped inside birthing her foal. He staggered, tried in his stupor to make the mothe

Understanding the Influence of Brand Information in Online Purchase Decisions for Health Products

In 2016, over 6% of all retail spending at health and personal care firms was done through an electronic medium. Purchasing health products online provides an interesting challenge to consumers, as not only do consumers often have limited knowledge about which health goods that will best suit their needs (as these tend to be experience goods bought infrequently), but they also face the additional challenge of having to discern the quality of a good only based on its online listing. Hence in this context, a signal, such as the brand information of a good, may be useful in identifying its quality. Additionally, given that online purchasing decisions occur in private, we can rule out some other explanations for consumers choosing branded products, such as reputational concerns. Using data from a health goods retailer operating through Amazon.com from 2013 and 2014, we test whether brand information in the product’s listing influences the demand for health-related goods. We find that having branded information displayed in the product’s listing photo significantly increases the probability consumers consider a health good in their choice set (measured as page views) but not the demand for the goods, except for the case of bandages and dressings

Irrigation Adoption, Groundwater Demand and Policy in the U.S. Corn Belt, 2040-2070

Climate change across the U.S. Corn Belt will significantly increase precipitation variability and temperatures by midcentury. Corn and soybean producers will seek to find strategies that may help to mitigate the potentially negative effects on yield. The adoption of irrigation technology has increased over the last several decades to improve yields in areas with insufficient rainfall, and is currently being adopted by producers who are choosing to minimize risk due to weather variability. To see if this trend in irrigation adoption has the potential to expand in the wake of climate change, this study uses weather data from four General Circulation Models (GCMs) under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 and crop yields, and water use from a crop model to evaluate the profitability of the irrigation investment. The data drives Net Present Value and internal rate of return calculations of investment in irrigation equipment for the present (1980-2005) and midcentury (2040-2070). Simulations of potential water applied for irrigated crops is also examined in contemporary and future time periods, to see how relative water demand may shift for current irrigators, and potential new irrigators. A companion online decision support tool was developed for extension audiences based on the contemporary climate data and default economic parameters developed in this thesis. The Net Present Value of irrigation investment for midcentury producers is largely driven by the yield response to irrigation by soybeans under future climate conditions. While the irrigation of corn is profitable in some locations, namely the western Corn Belt, the locations where irrigating corn is profitable in the future is largely the same as in the contemporary period. Under future weather conditions, the area where irrigating soybeans becomes profitable is greatly expanded, likely due to CO2 fertilization effects and higher temperatures in the northern Corn Belt. Projected irrigation water demand increases across the entire Corn Belt, both from a relative increase in applications from current irrigators, and an increase in the total number of irrigators across the central and eastern Corn Belt. The increase in the profitability of irrigation, and the potential increases in water demanded have important policy implications for the future, if we are to mitigate the potential impacts of climate change while ensuring water supplies are available and safe for the future

Connecting to God : exploring the language, motivation, and three strategic evidences in conversion to Christ

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/1213/thumbnail.jp

Bakhtin and the Hegelian tradition.

'Bakhtin and the Hegelian Tradition' explores the influence of Georg Hegel and Hegelianism in the philosophy of Mikhail Bakhtin. The thesis demonstrates that, either directly or indirectly (through neo-Kantianism, Lebensphilosophie, and phenomenology), Hegelian philosophy made a fundamental contribution to Bakthin's thought throughout his career. To this end, the thesis maintains a close connection between the historical analysis of philosophy and contemporary philosophical thought. Historically, the thesis discusses Bakhtin's work with reference to, among other, Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, and the important works of Bakhtin's contemporaries-especially the Lebensphilosophen Wilhelm Dilthey and Georg Simmel, the neo-Kantians Hermann Cohen and Ernst Cassirer, and the phenomenologists Edmund Husserl and Max Scheler. Philosophically, the thesis critically analyses Bakhtin's key concepts and theories in order to disclose their philosophical character. In particular the thesis evaluates the origin and evolution of Bakhtin's concepts of the subject, the object, the ought, culture and knowledge, and looks at his theories of being-as-event, intersubjectivity, language, genre, and world-view. By applying both analytic philosophy and Michael Kosok's formalised dialectical logic, the thesis demonstrates that many of Bakhtin's key concepts and theories have an indubitable Hegelian nature, or indeed origin. One of the most fundamental issues this thesis reveals is Bakhtin's desire to redefine and develop the nature of the Hegelian methodology, and in particular the nature of dialectics. As such, this investigation into Bakhtin's Hegelianism is valuable for the fact that it presents a new perspective on Bakhtin's philosophical concepts and theories, as well as a new viewpoint on Hegelian philosophy

Identification and frequency of consumption of wild edible plants over a year in central Tunisia: a mixed-methods approach

Objective: To identify wild plants used as food and assess their frequency of consumption over a year in a region of Tunisia where agriculture is undergoing a major transformation from smallholder farming to an intensive high-input agricultural system. Design: Qualitative ethnobotanical study followed by a survey of women's frequency of consumption of wild plants conducted using FFQ at quarterly intervals. Setting: Sidi Bouzid governorate of central Tunisia. Participants: Mixed-gender group of key informants (n 14) and focus group participants (n 43). Survey sample of women aged 20-49 years, representative at governorate level (n 584). Results: Ethnobotanical study: thirty folk species of wild edible plants corresponding to thirty-five taxa were identified by key informants, while twenty folk species (twenty-five taxa) were described by focus groups as commonly eaten. Population-based survey: 98 % of women had consumed a wild plant over the year, with a median frequency of 2 d/month. Wild and semi-domesticated fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill. and Anethum graveolens) was the most frequently consumed folk species. Women in the upper tertile of wild plant consumption frequency were more likely to be in their 30s, to live in an urban area, to have non-monetary access to foods from their extended family and to belong to wealthier households. Conclusions: In this population, wild edible plants, predominantly leafy vegetables, are appreciated but consumed infrequently. Their favourable perception, however, offers an opportunity for promoting their consumption which could play a role in providing healthy diets and mitigating the obesity epidemic that is affecting the Tunisian population