A Profile of Agriculture in New Mexico from the 1997 Census of Agriculture

Production Economics,

Estimating the Indirect Effect of Sports Books on Other In-House Gaming Volumes

Using data from a repeater market hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, the relationship between sports book and slot machine revenues is examined. Daily sports book write and daily slot handle are compared over a 250 day period. Though many industry leaders theorize that sports book gamblers also wager in slot banks, the results of this Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) analysis fail to demonstrate a statistically significant relationship between sports book write and slot coin-in at the 0.05 alpha cutoff. This study advances literature currently available by establishing the lack of such a relationship and disputing the generally accepted assumption that sports books produce a substantial indirect contribution to slot revenues. While the sports book does generate a fairly constant direct profit for the casino, the absolute value of that profit is minimal and the results of the study show there is no indirect profit contribution from sports books to slot machines. Given these results, casino management may want to consider that a sports book is not an optimal use of casino floor space

South Texas Wildlife Activity Across a Fragmented Landscape and Road Mitigation Corridor

Wildlife crossing structures (WCS) and roadside fencing are commonly installed to mitigate habitat fragmentation, wildlife road mortalities, and other negative effects that roads can have on the surrounding landscape. Eight such WCS were constructed below Farm-to-Market (FM)106 in Cameron County, Texas, across a 16 km corridor transecting the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. These WCS, paired with adjacent roadside fencing, were intended to prevent road mortalities of the endangered ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) and to mitigate the barrier effect of FM106 on this and other meso-mammal species. This study will analyze camera trap data from roadside and habitat reference sites to model target species activity throughout the study corridor and identify changes in broader community composition associated with the road and its mitigation structures. This analysis will allow for more accurate estimates of mitigation structure performance while controlling for the influence of land cover characteristics on target species detections

Temperature dependent kinetics of biotin carboxylase

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase catalyzes the first committed step in long chain fatty acid biosynthesis. In Escherichia coli, the enzyme is composed of three distinct protein components: biotin carboxylase, biotin carboxyl carrier protein, and carboxytransferase. The biotin carboxylase component has served for many years as a model for mechanistic studies devoted toward understanding biotin-dependent carboxylases. Studies of the temperature dependence, temperature dependence of the kinetic solvent isotope effect and thermodynamics of biotin carboxylase are reported. Analysis of the van’t Hoff plot in H2O was biphasic showing an apparent transition temperature of 20°C, with corresponding DH° values of –4.55 ± 1.84 kcal/mol below the transition temperature and –1.59 ± 0.16 kcal/mol above the transition temperature, respectively, suggesting a conformational change is occurring at this temperature. Biphasic Arrhenius and Eyring plots in D2O showed an apparent transition temperature at 25°C with corresponding Ea and DH‡ values of 16.35 ± 0.90 kcal/mol and 15.86 ± 0.85 kcal/mol below the transition temperature, respectively, and Ea and DH‡ values of 4.01 ± 1.15 kcal/mol and 3.37 ± 1.06 kcal/mol above the transition temperature, respectively. This break in the plots is suggestive of either a conformational change or a change in the rate-determining step occurring at 25°C. Kinetic solvent isotope effects were used to distinguish between these two possibilities. The results of the kinetic solvent isotope effect suggest a change in the rate-determining step as a function of temperature is occurring and is not due to a conformational change. Analysis of Arrhenius preexponential factors (AH/AD) determined from the temperature dependence of the kinetic solvent isotope suggests both hydrogen and deuterium tunneling in biotin carboxylase

The Osteopathic Clinical Practice Assessment - a pilot study to develop a new workplace-based assessment tool

Background It is widely recognised that multiple forms of assessment are required in order to make decisions about learner competency and fitness-to-practice. One assessment tool that is gaining popularity in the Australian allied health professions is the global clinical competency assessment. These tools are designed to assess learner performance across a range of areas required for professional practice, with the assessment typically performed at the end of a ‘block’ clinical placement. There is no literature on their use in osteopathy longitudinal placements. Objective To explore the applicability of an adaptation of the Assessment of Physiotherapy Practice in an osteopathic context. The study presents pilot data and discussion about the adaptation of a workplace-based assessment tool – the Osteopathic Clinical Practice Assessment (OCPA). Design Evaluation of the OCPA using data from multiple administrations. Setting Osteopathic on-campus, student-led teaching clinic at one Australian university. Methods Clinical Educators completed the OCPA for learners during weeks 5 and 12 of a 12 week semester. Descriptive statistics were generated for the data. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to investigate differences between the week 5 and 12 ratings. Cronbach\u27s alpha was used to assess the internal consistency and Spearman\u27s coefficient used to assess the relationship between the total OCPA score and global rating. Participants The OCPA was completed by 12 Clinical Educators assessing 31 learners in year 4 of the program. Results Learners were rated, on average, at the ‘expected level’ at each of the two time points. This was consistent for both the OCPA items and the global rating contained on the OCPA. Cronbach\u27s alpha was 0.822 and Spearman\u27s coefficient was 0.59 suggesting a ‘large’ relationship between the total OCPA score and the global rating. Conclusions There is a clear need for the OCPA to be used in conjunction with other assessment tools in order to make learner progress and fitness-to-practice decisions. Data suggest if learners are assessed at two or more different time points (across a longitudinal placement) changes need to be considered in the rating scale used on the OCPA in order to more clearly demonstrate learner progression. The OCPA could be used as a formative assessment tool in osteopathy with an adjustment to the current rating scale. In its current format caution should be applied if it is to be used as a summative tool as we do not have data supporting its use for this purpose. At present we cannot make any further arguments about the ability of the OCPA results to be extrapolated and make reliable and defensible decisions as there are no data correlating it with other performance assessments nor data supporting its reliability. This will be the subject of future research