A Business Educators Guide To Transitioning To A Digital Curriculum

The authors, representing three key digital media business disciplines, present a case for how business curriculum could be updated to include a strong digital element without recreating the entire business school enterprise or spending millions on new faculty and technology. The three key disciplines are technology, law, and marketing

Evaluation of beneficial and inhibitory effects of nitrate on nodulation and nitrogen fixation in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)

AbstractThe effects of applied nitrate on symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legumes are complex. Both inhibition and promotion of nodulation by nitrate have been observed in a dose‐dependent manner. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of nitrate at different concentrations on root nodulation in different genotypes in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Six genotypes were inoculated with the same rhizobial strain and grown hydroponically in growth pouches in a growth chamber and exposed to six nitrate concentrations, including 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mM for 4 weeks. The tested genotypes included three recombinant inbred lines (RILs, 25, 46, and 70) that differed in their responses to nitrogen (based on observations of one field growing season), their parents (Mist and Sanilac—registered varieties), which are different in N‐fixing abilities, and one nonnodulating mutant (R99). Our results showed that small amounts of nitrate (2.5 and 5 mM) promoted nodule formation and increased nodule biomass, compared with plants in the 0 nitrate control treatment. In contrast, nitrate concentrations over 10 mM inhibited nodulation, resulting in reductions in nodule number and nodule biomass. Nodulation was completely inhibited by 15‐mM nitrate in all the genotypes. Regression analyses indicated that 5‐mM nitrate is the optimum concentration for promoting nodulation as measured by the total number of nodules formed, the number of effective nodules formed, and the nodule biomass formed. In contrast, nitrogen fixation was inhibited by all levels of nitrate. No genotypic differences were observed in nodulation among the three RILs and their parental cultivars, but all were significantly different than R99, a nonnodulating mutant

Larval Trophodynamics, Turbulence, and Drift on Georges Bank : A Sensitivity Analysis of Cod and Haddock

Using an individual-based model approach we consider trophodynamic effects on the growth and survival of larval cod (Gadus morhua) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) on Georges Bank during late winter/early spring. These studies represent an extension of results described in Werner et al. (1996; Deep-Sea Res. II), wherein the effect of turbulence-enhanced larval-prey contact rates increased the effective prey concentration resulting in growth of cod larvae consistent with observed rates in the field. We reformulated the feeding of the larvae to include existing relationships between maximum prey-length and larval-length and we examined: (i) larval search behaviour and its effect on encounter with prey, (ii) the ability of larvae to pursue and capture prey in a turbulent environment, and (iii) the effect of turbulence on the dispersion of larvae in the vertical. We find that search behaviour, the effect of turbulence on pursuit and capture, and vertical dispersion decrease the predicted larval growth rates compared to those observed in the earlier study. These results suggest that larval feeding behaviour, and especially the ability of larvae to pursue encountered prey, could be an important input to larval growth and survival models. The inclusion of turbulence in determining the position of passive larvae in the water column allows the larvae to sample the entire water column, contributing to a decrease in the variance of the size of the larvae over time. The ability of larvae to swim and aggregate in the vertical will be necessary to reproduce distributions observed in the field

A Quality Major: Some Doctoral Programs Are Beginning to Offer a Specialization in Quality

Describes the doctorate in technology management from Indiana State University, a member of a consortium offering the degree that prepares graduates to be technological leaders for public and private sectors

Geography, environment, and colonization history interact with morph type to shape genomic variation in an Arctic fish

Funding Information: Thanks go to our editor and three anonymous reviewers whose suggestions greatly improved this study. We thank S. Avery, J. Callahan, S. Duffy, S. Hann, L. Pike, R. Solomon, A. Walsh, for assistance with sample collection and fieldwork. We are grateful to X. Dallaire and J.S. Moore for providing samples from Ungava, Bay (HAB) and to L. Bernatchez for his valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Thanks to Parks Canada for allowing us access to the Torngat Mountains National Park and the Nunatsiavut government for allowing us to collect samples from their lands. Thanks to A. Belay at Mount Sinai Hospital for her help with sequencing, A. Mesmer for help with genotyping, and S. Lehnert for insightful data analysis suggestions. We also thank the Institute for Biodiversity, Ecosystem Science, and Sustainability of the Department of Environment and Conservation of the Government of Labrador and Newfoundland for funding for this project; NSERC for the Strategic Grant STPGP 430198 and Discovery Grant awarded to DER, for the CGS‐D awarded to SJS; the Killam Trust for the Level 2 Izaak awarded to SJS; and the Government of Nova Scotia for the Graduate Scholarship awarded to SJS. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Study protocol: can a school gardening intervention improve children's diets?

BACKGROUND: The current academic literature suggests there is a potential for using gardening as a tool to improve children's fruit and vegetable intake. This study is two parallel randomised controlled trials (RCT) devised to evaluate the school gardening programme of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Campaign for School Gardening, to determine if it has an effect on children's fruit and vegetable intake. METHOD/DESIGN: Trial One will consist of 26 schools; these schools will be randomised into two groups, one to receive the intensive intervention as "Partner Schools" and the other to receive the less intensive intervention as "Associate Schools". Trial Two will consist of 32 schools; these schools will be randomised into either the less intensive intervention "Associate Schools" or a comparison group with delayed intervention. Baseline data collection will be collected using a 24-hour food diary (CADET) to collect data on dietary intake and a questionnaire exploring children's knowledge and attitudes towards fruit and vegetables. A process measures questionnaire will be used to assess each school's gardening activities. DISCUSSION: The results from these trials will provide information on the impact of the RHS Campaign for School Gardening on children's fruit and vegetable intake. The evaluation will provide valuable information for designing future research in primary school children's diets and school based interventions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN11396528

Primary Productivity in 20-year Old Created Wetlands in Southwestern Virginia

Abstract Thousands of depressional wetlands accidentally formed as a result of pre-1977 contour coal mining in the Appalachian Mountains. Eleven 20-yr old sites were found in a watershed that did not receive acid mine drainage. The purpose of this study was to quantify and model above-and below-ground plant biomass in these created wetlands and to evaluate functional development. Sampling was stratified by weighted average of two plant communities, which corresponded to shallower and deeper water levels, facultative wetland and obligate wetland communities, respectively. In 1994, peak above-ground biomass averaged 473.7 g m −2 in the facultative wetland community and 409.5 g m −2 in the obligate wetland community. Scirpus cyperinus exhibited the highest peak above-ground biomass (51.8% of total biomass) and Typha latifolia ranked second. Canonical correspondence analysis detected positive effects of longer soil exposure to the atmosphere and greater sediment depth on above-ground biomass at the site (wetland ecosystem) level. Within communities, forward stepwise regression identified positive association of aboveground biomass with water soluble reactive P, water soluble NH 3 , decomposition rate over 507 d, live S. cyperinus tissue P content, and sediment depth. When these results are combined with prior studies conducted at the same 20-yr old sites, it appears that both structural and functional development has been arrested at a somewhat immature state resulting primarily from soil and hydrologic factors

Mapping yield and yield-related traits using diverse common bean germplasm

Common bean (bean) is one of the most important legume crops, and mapping genes for yield and yield-related traits is essential for its improvement. However, yield is a complex trait that is typically controlled by many loci in crop genomes. The objective of this research was to identify regions in the bean genome associated with yield and a number of yield-related traits using a collection of 121 diverse bean genotypes with different yields. The beans were evaluated in replicated trials at two locations, over two years. Significant variation among genotypes was identified for all traits analyzed in the four environments. The collection was genotyped with the BARCBean6K_3 chip (5,398 SNPs), two yield/antiyield gene-based markers, and seven markers previously associated with resistance to common bacterial blight (CBB), including a Niemann–Pick polymorphism (NPP) gene-based marker. Over 90% of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were polymorphic and separated the panel into two main groups of small-seeded and large-seeded beans, reflecting their Mesoamerican and Andean origins. Thirty-nine significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) were identified between 31 SNPs and 15 analyzed traits on all 11 bean chromosomes. Some of these MTAs confirmed genome regions previously associated with the yield and yield-related traits in bean, but a number of associations were not reported previously, especially those with derived traits. Over 600 candidate genes with different functional annotations were identified for the analyzed traits in the 200-Kb region centered on significant SNPs. Fourteen SNPs were identified within the gene model sequences, and five additional SNPs significantly associated with five different traits were located at less than 0.6 Kb from the candidate genes. The work confirmed associations between two yield/antiyield gene-based markers (AYD1m and AYD2m) on chromosome Pv09 with yield and identified their association with a number of yield-related traits, including seed weight. The results also confirmed the usefulness of the NPP marker in screening for CBB resistance. Since disease resistance and yield measurements are environmentally dependent and labor-intensive, the three gene-based markers (CBB- and two yield-related) and quantitative trait loci (QTL) that were validated in this work may be useful tools for simplifying and accelerating the selection of high-yielding and CBB-resistant bean cultivars