EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

FRANKLIN COUNTY, IOWA'S PROGRAM IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Public Economics,

The Money To Get Started - What Do Farm Boys Expect?

It takes a lot of capital to acquire and to operate an Iowa farm. The study of occupational plans and preferences of Iowa farm boys helps to indicate just how much influence capital needs have on their plans

Occupational plans of Iowa farm boys

This bulletin reports the findings of an exploratory study of the long-range occupational plans of Iowa farm boys in their senior year of high school. The primary objectives of the study were: (1) to relate the theory of choice to occupational planning, (2) to describe the occupational plans of the boys, (3) to determine the characteristics which differentiate boys who plan to farm from boys who plan nonfarm careers and (4) to appraise the relative importance of factors influencing farm-nonfarm occupational plans. Application of the theory of choice to occupational planning resulted in three general hypotheses to explain why some farm boys plan to farm while others plan nonfarm occupations. These hypotheses involved individual differences in (1) occupational satisfaction functions (preference systems), (2) available resources and (3) the results expected from using given resources in farm and nonfarm employments. Various operational hypotheses derived from the general hypotheses were evaluated on the basis of evidence obtained from a state-wide sample of senior farm boys attending Iowa high schools in rural areas and cities under 25,000 population in the spring of 1959

Ancient DNA Elucidates the Controversy about the Flightless Island Hens (Gallinula sp.) of Tristan da Cunha

A persistent controversy surrounds the flightless island hen of Tristan da Cunha, Gallinula nesiotis. Some believe that it became extinct by the end of the 19th century. Others suppose that it still inhabits Tristan. There is no consensus about Gallinula comeri, the name introduced for the flightless moorhen from the nearby island of Gough. On the basis of DNA sequencing of both recently collected and historical material, we conclude that G. nesiotis and G. comeri are different taxa, that G. nesiotis indeed became extinct, and that G. comeri now inhabits both islands. This study confirms that among gallinules seemingly radical adaptations (such as the loss of flight) can readily evolve in parallel on different islands, while conspicuous changes in other morphological characters fail to occur