Input Price Risk and the Adoption of Conservation Technology

Replaced with revised version of poster 07/12/11.price risk, technology adoption, matching, propensity score, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q1, Q5,

Mixed spatially varying L2L^2-BV regularization of inverse ill-posed problems

Several generalizations of the traditional Tikhonov-Phillips regularization method have been proposed during the last two decades. Many of these generalizations are based upon inducing stability throughout the use of different penalizers which allow the capturing of diverse properties of the exact solution (e.g. edges, discontinuities, borders, etc.). However, in some problems in which it is known that the regularity of the exact solution is heterogeneous and/or anisotropic, it is reasonable to think that a much better option could be the simultaneous use of two or more penalizers of different nature. Such is the case, for instance, in some image restoration problems in which preservation of edges, borders or discontinuities is an important matter. In this work we present some results on the simultaneous use of penalizers of $L^2$ and of bounded variation (BV) type. For particular cases, existence and uniqueness results are proved. Open problems are discussed and results to signal restoration problems are presented.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figure

Lesbian Patients Using Online Video Profiles to Find Doctors: How Cues Inform the Decision-making Process

Today, the growth of the use of web-based communication technologies and online health information creates an environment where people can find vast amounts of information about physicians from several sources. Some health care organizations offer physician profile videos that feature individual physicians providing professional and personal background. Videos provide a rich channel for patients to find physicians who best meet patient needs and expectations. Physician videos provide an introductory view into the communication style and demeanor of the physician, both of which contributes to the health outcomes of the patient. Because of previous negative health care experiences or the fear of having a negative experience, many LGBTQ people delay seeking care health care or refuse seeking care altogether. The delay in care and refusal of care contributes to significant LGBTQ health disparities. One effective way to help overcome this barrier to effective health care is to help patients find LGBTQ-accepting health care providers, where fear of stigma will not be a factor. Using uncertainty reduction theory and media richness theory as foundations, this study examines how lesbians could use physician videos to identify LGBTQ-friendly physicians. Using actual video profiles to prompt discussion, two focus groups of eight lesbians each discussed the importance of a physician being LGBTQ-friendly, the characteristics lesbian patients look for or like in physicians, and what verbal and nonverbal cues lesbians look for to form judgments about physicians’ acceptance levels. The findings indicate the participants agreed that physician LGBTQ-friendliness is important in helping reduce irrelevant medical questions, include loved ones in health care experiences, and improve the quality of care. The participants discussed the physician qualities most appreciated in physicians including being authentic, creating a balance of being down-to-earth while professionally confident, and being female. The cues the participants would consider distinguishing LGBTQ-friendly physicians include the use of keywords and inclusive language. But, most importantly the participants indicated the desire to see physicians be explicit and direct about welcoming LGBTQ patients. The directness would provide visibility to the LGBTQ community which seems to be mostly absent in representation in physician videos today. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Tips are shared for physicians who desire to have better reach to LGBTQ patients

Effect of Publicly Released Quality Information for US Hard Red Winter Wheat on Mexican Millers' Welfare

Entities have been providing quality related information to overseas wheat buyers as a response to the increased requests for this information. This study measures the value of information to Mexican millers. The value to Mexican millers is measured by the difference of the flour mill surplus and compensating variation.Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Can Protozoa Prove the Beginning of the World?

Protozoa are magnificent creatures. They exhibit all of the functions intrinsic to living organisms: irritability, metabolism, growth and reproduction. Within these functions, there are numerous examples of mutations that occur in order for organisms to adapt to their given environments. Irritability is demonstrated in protozoa by their use of pseudopodia, flagella, or cilia for motility; it has been shown that such locomotors exhibit diversity while maintaining similar protein and chemical structures that appear to be a result of evolutionary processes. Metabolism in protozoa is similar to that of larger animals, but their diet is unique. They primarily feast upon bacteria, which have begun mutating to evade easy ingestion and digestion by protozoa, therefore increasing their survival rate and making it necessary for protozoa to adapt. Reproduction naturally follows growth in protozoa, and these processes are quite unique from larger life forms, leading scientists and evolutionists to hypothesize that the cenancestor that is pivotal in their case was a sexual being. Mutations that take place through sexual or asexual reproduction, when repeated over several generations, can eventually lead to a new species, which is the main doctrine in the theory of evolution. Creationist arguments that attempt to dissuade believers in theistic evolution rely heavily on the account in Genesis 1, but have no empirical evidence from the study of protozoa for their theory. On the other hand, numerous studies related to protozoa have been devoted to the proof of evolution. To summarize all of this, the study of protozoa, in its current state, may lead one to the reasonable conclusion that evolution was the process by which God formed the world

World Assumptions and Growth from Adversity in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Research on trauma and adversity has become increasingly focused on factors associated with posttraumatic growth (PTG). One of the factors identified in research that is associated with PTG is world assumptions, implicit assumptions about the world that facilitate a sense of security. One theory is that trauma and adversity prompt a shift in world assumptions, which in turn influences the development of PTG. While this research body has included various populations (military veterans, cancer survivors, bereaved parents, natural disaster survivors), there has been little research on the relationship between world assumptions and PTG for parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a subset of the population that is chronically highly stressed. Parenting children with ASD often involves a shift from what a parent envisioned their life would be like, to the formation of new ideals, and adjustment to new (and often more challenging) demands. This study sought to explore how world assumptions influence PTG in parents of children with ASD. Surveys were completed by 92 parents of children with ASD, including measures of world assumptions and PTG. It was hypothesized that all three domains of world assumptions (worthiness, benevolence, and meaningfulness) would be predictive of PTG. Results indicated that meaningfulness was the only significant predictor of the three factors, and that benevolence and worthiness were not predictive of PTG in parents of children with ASD. These findings suggest that autism parents fare best and demonstrate PTG when they view events and circumstances in their lives as comprehensible

ANIMAL LAW—CULTIVATING COMPASSIONATE LAW: UNLOCKING THE LABORATORY DOOR AND SHINING LIGHT ON THE INADEQUACIES & CONTRADICTIONS OF THE ANIMAL WELFARE ACT

This Note discusses the social movement to confer legal protections and rights on animals in an effort to end their suffering in laboratories from invasive research. It argues that primates, in particular, should be retired to sanctuaries where they will be guaranteed a right to dignity and a life free from confinement and torture. Part I of this Note reveals a glimpse of the range of research conducted on primates, and offers examples of primates’ intellectual abilities and emotional capacities. Part II takes account of competing theory—animal welfare theory, animal rights theory, and feminist animal care theory—and traces the evolution of protective legislation. Part II also considers the status of animals as property, legal personhood, and legal standing as a means of gaining access to the courts to enforce protective legislation. Part III compares evolving societal mindsets in the context of the women’s rights movement and the animal welfare and rights movement, and analyzes protective legislation, specifically provisions of the AWA that relate to painful laboratory research. Part III concludes that current protective legislation is human-focused, inadequate, and wrought with contradictions

Reactions to Latinx Children’s Picture Books from Indie Presses: An Analysis of Online Consumer Reviews

This study analyzed online consumer reviews of children\u27s picture books published by three small, independent presses focused on providing representation of Latinx people and culture. Reviews showed an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the use of bilingual text. Reactions to the use of illustrations support research indicating a preference for bright, colorful images. Additional themes that emerged in reviews include the timeliness of a bilingual book about expressing feelings in the first year of the Covid pandemic; the importance of personal connections to expressions of culture and traditions in the text; the pros and cons of using photographs instead of illustrations; a strong desire for positive representation of Latinx people and culture; and the potential for readers to connect with localized narratives

The role of subunit interfaces in the function of (α4β2)2β2 nAChRs

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are pentameric ligand-gated ion channels formed from homologous subunits, of which there are many different subtypes. The ability to combine different types of subunits into an individual pentamer enables a wide diversity of functional properties to meet a range of physiological needs. In the brain, the vast majority of high-sensitivity 3H-nicotine binding sites are due to nAChRs containing α4 and β2 subunits. These subunits assemble into pentamers with alternate stoichiometries (α4β2)2β2 and (α4β2)2α4. These two receptors differ in sensitivity to ACh, unitary current amplitude, selectivity for different agonists, antagonists an, and potentiation by ions or drugs. The alternate stoichiometries are present in neurones and although they tend to co-express, there are regions in the brain such as the striatum, where only one stoichiometry is present. Recent studies of the (α4β2)2α4 nAChR have shown that this receptor type functions with three agonist sites, two of these are on the α4/β2 interfaces of the receptor and are thus classical nAChR agonist sites, whereas the other site is on the α4/α4 interface, the signature interface of this receptor type. Pharmacological studies have shown convincingly that the site at the α4/α4 interface accounts for the unique pharmacology of the (α4β2)2α4 nAChRs. In the case of the (α4β2)2β2, there is a signature β2(+)/β2(-) interface that homology models suggest may house an agonist site. The β2(+)/β2(-) interface forms between the fifth subunit of the receptor and another β2 subunit that also contributes, through its complementary face, to an agonist site. In common with the (α4β2)2α4 nAChR, the α4/β2 interfaces of (α4β2)2β2 house each an agonist site. To test the possibility of an operational agonsit site at the β2(+)/β2(-) interface, and to answer the question of whether the unique functional behaviour of the (α4β2)2β2 can be ascribed to an additional agonist site, the work presented here used targeted single point-mutations, functional analysis and the substituted cysteine scanning approach. By using these approaches, it was found that the β2(+)/β2(-) interface does not house an agonist site; however, it was found that this interface is an important site for inter-subunit communication and that this communication encodes agonist efficacy elements. The inter-subunit communication occurs between residues of the E loop of the fifth subunit of the receptor and conserved aromatic residues in loop B of the complementary subunit of one of the agonist sites found on α/β interfaces. By alanine substituting agonist sites on the α4/β2 interfaces and determining the consequences of the mutations on the pattern of covalent reaction between a methanethiosulphonate compound and one of the β2 subunits contributing to the β2(+)/β2(-) interface, it was found that the agonist sites communicate with the β2(+)/β2(-) interface via the interactions between the E loop residues and conserved aromatic residues. Further studies with a compound that enabled direct measurements of changes in agonist efficacy relative to that ACh established that agonist efficacy is dependent on primarily on binding of the agonist to the agonist sites on the α4/β2 interfaces and then on the E loop-conserved aromatic residues interactions. The results are discussed in the context of recent cryo-electron microscopy structures of the muscle nAChR that show, for the first time, that the fifth subunit of nAChRs may play a key role in gating of the ion channel.