Diverse aging rates in ectothermic tetrapods provide insights for the evolution of aging and longevity

Comparative studies of mortality in the wild are necessary to understand the evolution of aging; yet, ectothermic tetrapods are underrepresented in this comparative landscape, despite their suitability for testing evolutionary hypotheses. We present a study of aging rates and longevity across wild tetrapod ectotherms, using data from 107 populations (77 species) of nonavian reptiles and amphibians. We test hypotheses of how thermoregulatory mode, environmental temperature, protective phenotypes, and pace of life history contribute to demographic aging. Controlling for phylogeny and body size, ectotherms display a higher diversity of aging rates compared with endotherms and include phylogenetically widespread evidence of negligible aging. Protective phenotypes and life-history strategies further explain macroevolutionary patterns of aging. Analyzing ectothermic tetrapods in a comparative context enhances our understanding of the evolution of aging.Animal science

Yhe Case for muslim voluntary-aided schoolds : Some philosophical rflection

xiii, 82 p.; 20 cm

The Potential for Restaurants in Expanding Markets for Locally Grown Food

This study used primary data to characterize New Hampshire food service establishments sourcing local food products and assess potential for increasing intermediate purchase of local food. Recent studies imply New England consumers are not overly keen to purchase directly from farmers, but still want to consume locally grown food. Increasing local sourcing to intermediate channels may lower opportunity costs of buying local. Statewide surveys assessed practices, characteristics, and perceptions affecting purchasing of local food. We examined which variables affect the likelihood restaurants will buy local. Using binary logistic analyses (the dependent variable defined local purchasing as ≥ 41% of total), we found restaurants serving less than 750 meals/week were less likely to purchase locally produced food, and restaurants making food purchasing decisions longer than two years have a negative propensity to buy local. Advocating the importance of knowing who and where their food comes from may help increase intermediate purchases

The development of values, attitudes and personal qualities A review of recent research

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m00/15687 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Factors Affecting Manure Applications as Directed by Nutrient Management Plans at Four Connecticut Dairy Farms

Univ Talca, Talca, Chile; Bravo-Ureta, BE (Bravo-Ureta, Boris E.)Distribution of manure on a farm is constrained by strategic, tactical, and operational factors and can be optimized by use of a nutrient management plan (NMP). Variables affecting a farmer's choice to implement manure recommendations can be identified by econometric models. Probit and feasible generalized least squares multiple regression models for panel data were fitted using 4 to 5 yr of field-by-field records of manure applications from four dairy farms in Connecticut. The results of the models showed that the farmers' decisions about manure applications were significantly affected by a common factor: the distance from the manure storage lagoon to the field. Other factors, including field ownership, field size, crop, soil test P, recommended manure application, fertilizer N and P applications, and N and P requirements for crop growth, also significantly affected some of the farmers' decisions about manure distribution. Identification of the factors affecting a farmer's decision is important for NMP planners and policymakers for developing more feasible and adoptable NMPs while minimizing the negative effects of land application of manure. This research illustrates how to use and interpret econometric models to analyze the decisions farmers make when they face two alternatives: a traditional practice or an improved NMP

Artistic education and the possibilities for citizenship education

Citizenship education and education in the arts are not usually regarded as related. In this application of normative political theory to the nature and purpose of creative and arts-based education, the authors argue that they share some of their basic features and can complement each other in practice. Distinguishing artistic education from aesthetic education, the authors take Iris Marion Young's defence of communicative democracy as a framework for exploration and critique. This enables the authors to apply Young's reservations about deliberation - understood as rational discourse that leads to the best argument winning - as an appropriate description of interaction between citizens and as a model for learning in citizenship education. Through selected examples, the authors show how Young's notions of greeting, rhetoric, storytelling and gift-giving can foster forms of democratic citizenship, through the arts, which escape the dangers of the neo-liberal forms of citizenship implicated in an economy of exchange