Understanding the Drivers of Forest, Residential, and Agricultural Land Values in Yamhill County Using Hedonic Models

Hedonic modeling is commonly used in land and property value estimations in an attempt to identify the impact that various attributes have on the market value of that property. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors contributing to land value of agricultural, forest, and residential properties in Yamhill County, as part of the Spatial Ecosystem Services Analysis, Modeling, and Evaluation (SESAME, http://www.pdx.edu/ecosystem-services/) project. This paper discusses the process and preliminary results of the development of hedonic models that will be utilized for predicting land value changes under future land conversion scenarios. Applying the models to future scenarios will provide insight into the effect that land conversion will have on market value of land in Yamhill County, in order to elucidate one component of the total land value in the area. Numerous studies have performed hedonic modeling in order to provide greater understanding of the non-market ecosystem service values that are contributing to land values, and it is necessary to have baseline information on the value of environmental attributes in order to identify potential policy and planning activities that can preserve these values. Current methods for assessing the value of non-market ecosystem services are mostly in development stages, with few widely-accepted approaches. Utilizing hedonic modeling and other revealed preference techniques may provide valuable insight into the contribution of nonmarket goods and services, in order to ensure they are adequately accounted for in planning and management decisions

Exploring the Relationship Between Pre-School-aged Animated Television and Agriculture: A Content Analysis of Disney Junior\u27s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Understanding how modern preschool television series are framing agriculture can help agricultural communicators and educators gain insight into what schemata preschoolers have developed about agriculture prior to participation in formal education and non-formal youth programming (such as 4-H). Framing theory and schema theory play a role in a developing child’s absorption and interpretation of television programming content. Considering the potential implications of television consumption by preschoolers, this study aims to use summative content analysis methods to examine how agriculture is framed in current preschool-aged animated television programming. This analysis reviewed two iTunes collections of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, each of which contained five episodes of the show. The two iTunes collections selected — “Mickey and Donald Have a Farm” and “Mickey’s Farm Fun-Fair!” — were chosen because of their farm-centric themes. While content analysis revealed Mickey Mouse Clubhouse does frame agriculture in a positive context, it also uncovered a lack of depth in regard to educational lessons related to production agriculture. Additionally, several inaccuracies and improbable scenarios regarding production livestock, farm machinery and crops were discovered

Using small-angle scattering and contrast matching to understand molecular packing in low molecular weight gels

It is difficult to determine exactly the molecular packing in the aggregates in low molecular weight gels. Attempts to understand the packing have been made using X-ray diffraction, but there are complications with drying and questions as to whether the crystal structures represent the packing in the gel phase. Here, we exploit contrast matching in small-angle neutron scattering experiments. By preparing selectively deuterated analogs of the same molecule, the scattering from that section of the molecule decreases compared with the hydrogenated molecule. We examine packing in the pre-gelled solutions at high pH and in the gels at low pH. The data from the final gels show a lack of specific order in the aggregates that form the gel matrix. The packing in these systems is not well ordered in the gel state and so implies that it is likely that current models and cartoons are not correct

Carbon Accounting by Public and Private Financial Institutions: Can We Be Sure Climate Finance Is Leading to Emissions Reductions?

As reporting GHG emissions becomes mandatory in the financial sector, the methods by which emissions are calculated will grow in importance for their impact on the resulting metric. Progress is underway in both the public and private financial sectors to embed emissions accounting standards, but there is still a long way to go to make them universal and harmonized. This report addresses key developments that both multilateral development banks (MDBs)—major actors in public climate finance—and private financial institutions have made toward adopting and harmonizing methodologies for calculating financed emissions

GOAnnotator: linking protein GO annotations to evidence text

BACKGROUND: Annotation of proteins with gene ontology (GO) terms is ongoing work and a complex task. Manual GO annotation is precise and precious, but it is time-consuming. Therefore, instead of curated annotations most of the proteins come with uncurated annotations, which have been generated automatically. Text-mining systems that use literature for automatic annotation have been proposed but they do not satisfy the high quality expectations of curators. RESULTS: In this paper we describe an approach that links uncurated annotations to text extracted from literature. The selection of the text is based on the similarity of the text to the term from the uncurated annotation. Besides substantiating the uncurated annotations, the extracted texts also lead to novel annotations. In addition, the approach uses the GO hierarchy to achieve high precision. Our approach is integrated into GOAnnotator, a tool that assists the curation process for GO annotation of UniProt proteins. CONCLUSION: The GO curators assessed GOAnnotator with a set of 66 distinct UniProt/SwissProt proteins with uncurated annotations. GOAnnotator provided correct evidence text at 93% precision. This high precision results from using the GO hierarchy to only select GO terms similar to GO terms from uncurated annotations in GOA. Our approach is the first one to achieve high precision, which is crucial for the efficient support of GO curators. GOAnnotator was implemented as a web tool that is freely available at

Transparent-to-dark photo- and electrochromic gels

Smart windows in which the transmittance can be controlled on demand are a promising solution for the reduction of energy use in buildings. Windows are often the most energy inefficient part of a building, and so controlling the transmittance has the potential to significantly improve heating costs. Whilst numerous approaches exist, many suitable materials are costly to manufacture and process and so new materials could have a significant impact. Here we describe a gel-based device which is both photo- and electrochromic. The gel matrix is formed by the self-assembly of a naphthalene diimide. The radical anion of the naphthalene diimide can be formed photo or electrochemically, and leads to a desirable transition from transparent to black. The speed of response, low potential needed to generate the radical anion, cyclability of the system, temperature stability and low cost mean these devices may be suitable for applications in smart windows

Ultrasonographic Visualization of the Ovaries to Detect Ovarian Cancer According to Age, Menopausal Status and Body Type

Because the effects of age, menopausal status, weight and body mass index (BMI) on ovarian detectability by transvaginal ultrasound (TVS) have not been established, we determined their contributions to TVS visualization of the ovaries. A total of 29,877 women that had both ovaries visualized on their first exam were followed over 202,639 prospective TVS exams. All images were reviewed by a physician. While visualization of both ovaries decreased with age, one or both ovaries could be visualized in two of every three women over 80 years of age. Around 93% of pre-menopausal women and ~69% of post-menopausal women had both ovaries visualized. Both ovaries were visualized in ~72% of women weighing over 300 lbs. and in ~70% of women with a BMI over 40. Conclusions: Age had the greatest influence on the visualization of the ovaries. The ovaries can be visualized well past the menopause. Body habitus was not limiting to TVS ovarian imaging, and TVS should be considered capable of imaging one or both ovaries in two of every three women over 80 years of age. Thus, older and obese patients remain good candidates for TVS exams

Significance of Pelvic Fluid Observed during Ovarian Cancer Screening with Transvaginal Sonogram

The primary objective was to examine the role of pelvic fluid observed during transvaginal ultrasonography (TVS) in identifying ovarian malignancy. A single-institution, observational study was conducted within the University of Kentucky Ovarian Cancer Screening trial from January 1987 to September 2019. We analyzed true-positive (TP), false-positive (FP), true-negative (TN), and false-negative (FN) groups for the presence of pelvic fluid during screening encounters. Measured outcomes were the presence and duration of fluid over successive screening encounters. Of the 48,925 women surveyed, 2001 (4.1%) had pelvic fluid present during a TVS exam. The odds ratio (OR) of detecting fluid in the comparison group (TN screen; OR = 1) significantly differed from that of the FP cases (benign pathology; OR: 13.4; 95% confidence interval (CI): 9.1–19.8), the TP cases with a low malignant potential (LMP; OR: 28; 95% CI: 26.5–29.5), TP ovarian cancer cases (OR: 50.4; 95% CI: 27.2–93.2), and FN ovarian cancer cases (OR: 59.3; 95% CI: 19.7–178.1). The mean duration that pelvic fluid was present for women with TN screens was 2.2 ± 0.05 encounters, lasting 38.7 ± 1.3 months. In an asymptomatic screening population, free fluid identified in TVS exams was more associated with ovarian malignancy than in the control group or benign ovarian tumors. While pelvic free fluid may not solely discriminate malignancy from non-malignancy, it appears to be clinically relevant and warrants thoughtful consideration

Candida albicans Ethanol Stimulates Pseudomonas aeruginosa WspR-Controlled Biofilm Formation as Part of a Cyclic Relationship Involving Phenazines

In chronic infections, pathogens are often in the presence of other microbial species. For example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common and detrimental lung pathogen in individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) and co-infections with Candida albicans are common. Here, we show that P. aeruginosa biofilm formation and phenazine production were strongly influenced by ethanol produced by the fungus C. albicans. Ethanol stimulated phenotypes that are indicative of increased levels of cyclic- di-GMP (c-di-GMP), and levels of c-di-GMP were 2-fold higher in the presence of ethanol. Through a genetic screen, we found that the diguanylate cyclase WspR was required for ethanol stimulation of c-di-GMP. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that ethanol stimulates WspR signaling through its cognate sensor WspA, and promotes WspR-dependent activation of Pel exopolysaccharide production, which contributes to biofilm maturation. We also found that ethanol stimulation of WspR promoted P. aeruginosa colonization of CF airway epithelial cells. P. aeruginosa production of phenazines occurs both in the CF lung and in culture, and phenazines enhance ethanol production by C. albicans. Using a C.albicans adh1/adh1 mutant with decreased ethanol production, we found that fungal ethanol strongly altered the spectrum of P. aeruginosa phenazines in favor of those that are most effective against fungi. Thus, a feedback cycle comprised of ethanol and phenazines drives this polymicrobial interaction, and these relationships may provide insight into why co-infection with both P. aeruginosa and C. albicans has been associated with worse outcomes in cystic fibrosis

Atomic structures of naphthalene dipeptide micelles unravel mechanisms of assembly and gelation

Peptide-based biopolymers have gained increasing attention due to their versatile applications. A naphthalene dipeptide (2NapFF) can form chirality-dependent tubular micelles, leading to supramolecular gels. The precise molecular arrangement within these micelles and the mechanism governing gelation have remained enigmatic. We determined, at near-atomic resolution, cryoelectron microscopy structures of the 2NapFF micelles LL-tube and LD-tube, generated by the stereoisomers (ʟ,ʟ)-2NapFF and (ʟ,ᴅ)-2NapFF, respectively. The structures reveal that the fundamental packing of dipeptides is driven by the systematic π-π stacking of aromatic rings and that same-charge repulsion between the carbonyl groups is responsible for the stiffness of both tubes. The structural analysis elucidates how a single residue’s altered chirality gives rise to markedly distinct tubular structures and sheds light on the mechanisms underlying the pH-dependent gelation of LL- and LD-tubes. The understanding of dipeptide packing and gelation mechanisms provides insights for the rational design of 2NapFF derivatives, enabling the modulation of micellar dimensions