Humor To The Rescue: How To Make Introductory Economics An Appealing Social Science For Non-Majors

Despite efforts made over the past few years to improve upon the way introductory economics is taught, these efforts have unfortunately done very little to change student perception of economics as a dry, difficult and boring subject. Since the introductory economics course for many non-majors may be their only economics course in college, it is incumbent upon those who teach the course to leave a lasting impression of it as a relevant, interesting, and exciting subject to learn. One alternative teaching technique that holds great promise in addressing the negative reputation of economics is humor. Until recently, the use of humor as an alternative teaching technique was shunned and held in disrepute especially in such “dread” courses as economics. Today, the current literature on teaching and learning clearly indicates that the tables have turned and the use of humor as a viable pedagogical approach is on the rise in almost every discipline. The primary goal of this paper is to discuss the vital role of humor as a transformational teaching technique in the introductory economic course. Specifically, the paper discusses the teaching and learning benefits of humor, the appropriate use of humor and some practical suggestions on how economics instructors can incorporate humor into their teaching

Extrasolar Planets in the Classroom

The field of extrasolar planets is still, in comparison with other astrophysical topics, in its infancy. There have been about 300 or so extrasolar planets detected and their detection has been accomplished by various different techniques. Here we present a simple laboratory experiment to show how planets are detected using the transit technique. Following the simple analysis procedure describe we are able to determine the planetary radius to be 1.27 +/- 0.20 R_{J} which, within errors agrees with the establish value of 1.32 +/- 0.25 R_{J}.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, published in Physics Educatio

Homiletics

Homiletic

Fall Treatment of Tobacco Beds with Methyl Bromide

Treating tobacco beds with methyl bromide for the purpose of killing weed seed has become very popular in recent years. The gas is effective except on the seed of white clover and when the soil temperature is below 50° F

Calcium Deficiency Symptoms in Burley Tobacco

Calcium is an element required by all higher plants in relatively large quantities. It appears to be closely related to the formation of buds and flowers. Calcium is usually available in sufficient quantities in Kentucky soils to produce a normal crop of tobacco. However, when certain varieties of burley tobacco commence to bloom and produce suckers, the tips of the calyx lobes of the flowers may turn brown and die and the edges of the small leaves of the suckers may be necrotic, resulting in irregularly shaped sucker leaves. In severe cases the apical bud may be killed. These calcium deficiency symptoms are most often observed during periods of stress such as protracted dry periods. This condition has been found to be heritable and is apparently caused by the improper utilization by the plant rather than the lack of calcium in the soil

Protein synthesis in skeletal muscle following acute exhaustive exercise

Cell-free and whole-tissue protein synthesis was studied in skeletal muscle of untrained male guinea pigs that had undergone a treadmill run to exhaustion. Experiments using explants from the gastrocnemius muscle maintained in organ culture demonstrated that the ability of the acutely exercised muscle to incorporate amino acids into protein had increased. Compared to polyribosomes prepared from several lower hind limb muscles of nonexercised guinea pigs, polyribosomes from the same muscle in exhausted guinea pigs had incorporated almost 50% more radioactive leucine into protein. However, the polysome profiles of control and exercised muscle were identical, and no difference in the total polysome RNA content could be detected. The efficiency of in-vitro protein synthesis using washed membrane-bound polyribosomes (microsomes) isolated from acutely exercised skeletal muscle was 50% greater than with microsomes from rested control muscle.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50128/1/880020403_ftp.pd

Time course of changes in protein synthesis in marcaine-induced skeletal muscle regeneration

The time course of the regeneration of rat skeletal muscle has been examined after injection of the myotoxic drug, Marcaine, to induce regeneration. Muscle wet weight decreases during the initial phase of the regeneration process while the ability of the regenerating muscle to incorporate [35S]methionine into protein, the yield and activity of muscle polysomes and the yield of total and poly(A) + RNA all increase initially. Following the initial changes, these parameters return to near control values by 30 days after Marcaine injection. Theoretical calculations suggest that the changes in polysome yield and activity are sufficient to account for the changes in the ability of muscle fragments to synthesize protein during the regeneration process. The specific activity of total muscle RNA in the wheat germ cell-free system decreases initially during the early stages of the regeneration process. This decrease may reflect the fact that while the yields of both total and poly(A) + RNA increase during the early stages of regeneration, the percentage of the total RNA which is poly(A) + decreases initially.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24659/1/0000072.pd

Sudan Pasturage for Beef Production.

12 p