Consumer Purchases of Biotech Sweet Corn: Results from a Market Experiment

In the increasingly consumer-driven food system, consumer preferences toward agricultural biotechnology have the potential to influence decisions about development and adoption of biotech crop varieties. Current knowledge about consumer attitudes toward biotech foods is largely based on a number of consumer surveys and a growing body of experimental auctions. This paper reports results of a market experiment designed to isolate the effect of the use of biotechnology on consumer choices between two otherwise identical products. Two related varieties of fresh-market sweet corn were grown, labeled, and sold side-by-side in nine participating grocery stores in the Philadelphia area. Sales data indicate a market share of biotech corn of about 45 percent, with store-specific shares varying between 10 and 80 percent. Over 700 surveys were collected in stores. Surprisingly, only 65 percent of respondents noticed that there were two types of corn for sale despite the labeling and merchandising, and 87 percent of the sample spent one minute or less choosing their corn. About half of the respondents had heard of biotechnology before, and 16 percent volunteered the biotechnology trait as an influence on their purchase decision. Approximately 40 percent of the sample purchased some of the biotech variety, with several respondents purchasing some of each.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Exploring first year international undergraduates' experiences in four disciplines: influences of university and international partner college pedagogy and support practices

Building on a previous study into first year international students' experiences (Jones et al.,2015) and Briggs et al. (2012, p17) we conducted new research. This aimed to: identify ways in which: 1. first year international undergraduates' experiences are influenced by university and international partner-college pedagogy and support practices; and 2. experiences vary among first year international undergraduates who have, and have not, attended an IFY in different UK universities and disciplinary contexts. This research contributes to knowledge in international student transition research, helping to identify effective practices and ways to address challenges when working with first year international students

Changes in species composition and diversity of a montane beetle community over the last millennium in the High Tatras, Slovakia : Implications for forest conservation and management

Montane biomes are niche environments high in biodiversity with a variety of habitats. Often isolated, these non-continuous remnant ecosystems inhabit narrow ecological zones putting them under threat from changing climatic conditions and anthropogenic pressure. Twelve sediment cores were retrieved from a peat bog in Tatra National Park, Slovakia, and correlated to each other by wiggle-matching geochemical signals derived from micro-XRF scanning, to make a reconstruction of past conditions. A fossil beetle (Coleoptera) record, covering the last 1000 years at 50- to 100-year resolution, gives a new insight into changing flora and fauna in this region. Our findings reveal a diverse beetle community with varied ecological groups inhabiting a range of forest, meadow and synanthropic habitats. Changes in the beetle community were related to changes in the landscape, driven by anthropogenic activities. The first clear evidence for human activity in the area occurs c. 1250 CE and coincides with the arrival of beetle species living on the dung of domesticated animals (e.g. Aphodius spp.). From 1500 CE, human (re)settlement, and activities such as pasturing and charcoal burning, appear to have had a pronounced effect on the beetle community. Local beetle diversity declined steadily towards the present day, likely due to an infilling of the forest hollow leading to a decrease in moisture level. We conclude that beetle communities are directly affected by anthropogenic intensity and land-use change. When aiming to preserve or restore natural forest conditions, recording their past changes in diversity can help guide conservation and restoration. In doing so, it is important to look back beyond the time of significant human impact, and for this, information contained in paleoecological records is irreplaceable.Peer reviewe

Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome A Mechanism for the Unilateral Tendencies

No abstract availabl

First Report of a Novel Hepatozoon sp. in Giant Pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

The first report of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) infected with a novel Hepatozoon species is presented. An intraleukocytic parasite was detected via routine blood smear from a zoo-housed giant panda at the National Zoological Park. Ribosomal DNA sequences indicated a previously undescribed Hepatozoon species. Phylogenetic and distance analyses of the sequences placed it within its own branch, clustered with Old World species with carnivore (primarily ursid and mustelid) hosts. Retrospective and opportunistic testing of other individuals produced additional positive detections (17/23, 73.9%), demonstrating 100% prevalence (14/14) across five institutions. All animals were asymptomatic at time of sampling, and health implications for giant pandas remain unknown

A novel MC1R allele for black coat colour reveals the Polynesian ancestry and hybridization patterns of Hawaiian feral pigs

Pigs (Sus scrofa) have played an important cultural role in Hawaii since Polynesians first introduced them in approximately AD 1200. Additional varieties of pigs were introduced following Captain Cook’s arrival in Hawaii in 1778 and it has been suggested that the current pig population may descend primarily, or even exclusively, from European pigs. Although populations of feral pigs today are an important source of recreational hunting on all of the major islands, they also negatively impact native plants and animals. As a result, understanding the origins of these feral pig populations has significant ramifications for discussions concerning conservation management, identity and cultural continuity on the islands. Here, we analysed a neutral mitochondrial marker and a functional nuclear coat colour marker in 57 feral Hawaiian pigs. Through the identification of a new mutation in the MC1R gene that results in black coloration, we demonstrate that Hawaiian feral pigs are mostly the descendants of those originally introduced during Polynesian settlement, though there is evidence for some admixture. As such, extant Hawaiian pigs represent a unique historical lineage that is not exclusively descended from feral pigs of European originPeer reviewe

On the Standard Model prediction for BR(B{s,d} to mu+ mu-)

The decay Bs to mu+ mu- is one of the milestones of the flavor program at the LHC. We reappraise its Standard Model prediction. First, by analyzing the theoretical rate in the light of its main parametric dependence, we highlight the importance of a complete evaluation of higher-order electroweak corrections, at present known only in the large-mt limit, and leaving sizable dependence on the definition of electroweak parameters. Using insights from a complete calculation of such corrections for K to pi bar{nu} nu decays, we find a scheme in which NLO electroweak corrections are likely to be negligible. Second, we address the issue of the correspondence between the initial and the final state detected by the experiments, and those used in the theoretical prediction. Particular attention is devoted to the effect of the soft radiation, that has not been discussed for this mode in the previous literature, and that can lead to O(10%) corrections to the decay rate. The "non-radiative" branching ratio (that is equivalent to the branching ratio fully inclusive of bremsstrahlung radiation) is estimated to be (3.23 +/- 0.27) x 10^{-9} for the flavor eigenstate, with the main uncertainty resulting from the value of f_{Bs}, followed by the uncertainty due to higher order electroweak corrections. Applying the same strategy to Bd to mu+ mu-, we find for its non-radiative branching ratio (1.07 +/- 0.10) x 10^{-10}.Comment: 15 pages. v3: very minor changes to match the journal version (EPJC