How Much is E-Commerce Worth to Rural Businesses?

The probability of a business paying for an e-commerce presence ultimately depends on demographic features, experiences with e-commerce, technological expertise, and knowledge of e-commerce opportunities and limitations. Results allow for the assignment of probabilities associated with various business profiles to determine the willingness to pay for an e-commerce presence.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Website Usage Information for Rural-Based E-Commerce Start-Ups

Usage patterns for start-up agricultural and non-agricultural websites, as well as product and service oriented websites, were studied to determine differences in the number of unique visitors, usage based on the day and time of the week, total time spent on the website, and how the visitor found the website.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The Delta E-Commerce Connection: Preliminary Findings

A USDA Fund for Rural America project is creating economic opportunities for small agricultural and rural businesses in the Lower Mississippi Delta by assisting in e-commerce business development. Select rural businesses are provided technical support in web site development, marketing strategy formulation, electronic retailing services, and space on a secure server for one year. Businesses retaining web sites after this time assume responsibility for maintaining and funding the site. Characteristics of rural businesses adopting e-commerce are compared with those not adopting. Preliminary results suggest the amount of time invested in initial web site design, satisfaction with design, economic benefits from owning a web site, and number of levels traveled in the e-commerce roadmap (a measure of technological progress) as determinants of success. These findings will assist in selecting and guiding participant involvement to maximize the likelihood of success

Novel Approach to Mass Tort Class Actions: The Billion Dollar Settlement in the Sulzer Artificial Hip and Knee Litigation: A Symposium

This is a transcript of a two hour symposium which deals with the Sulzer knee and hip replacement class action. A copy of the settlement is included as an appendix. The settlement in the U.S. District Court for the N.D. Ohio was unique and creative approach to resolving a mass tort class action. In a novel move, Sulzer agreed to open its books to an independent review firm to determine how much the firm could pay without going bankrupt. The number was $1 billion. As negotiated by the parties and approved by the court, the final settlement provides compensation for each member of the class based on a variety of factors, such as whether the member has undergone - or is likely to undergo - a revision to replace the defective part. Professor Susan Becker made the introductory remarks. The panel members were all involved in the Sulzer knee and hip replacement class action. R. Eric Kennedy served as lead plaintiffs\u27 counsel. The Honorable Kathleen McDonald O\u27Malley of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio presided over the Sulzer class action litigation and settlement. Sidney A. Backstrom and Richard F. Scruggs were the defense counsel. James J. McMonagle served as the Claims Administrator overseeing distribution of the Sulzer class action settlement funds

Novel Approach to Mass Tort Class Actions: The Billion Dollar Settlement in the Sulzer Artificial Hip and Knee Litigation: A Symposium

This is a transcript of a two hour symposium which deals with the Sulzer knee and hip replacement class action. A copy of the settlement is included as an appendix. The settlement in the U.S. District Court for the N.D. Ohio was unique and creative approach to resolving a mass tort class action. In a novel move, Sulzer agreed to open its books to an independent review firm to determine how much the firm could pay without going bankrupt. The number was $1 billion. As negotiated by the parties and approved by the court, the final settlement provides compensation for each member of the class based on a variety of factors, such as whether the member has undergone - or is likely to undergo - a revision to replace the defective part. Professor Susan Becker made the introductory remarks. The panel members were all involved in the Sulzer knee and hip replacement class action. R. Eric Kennedy served as lead plaintiffs\u27 counsel. The Honorable Kathleen McDonald O\u27Malley of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio presided over the Sulzer class action litigation and settlement. Sidney A. Backstrom and Richard F. Scruggs were the defense counsel. James J. McMonagle served as the Claims Administrator overseeing distribution of the Sulzer class action settlement funds

Evaluating the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day Program

It is well-documented that women in the United States are underrepresented in STEM fields and engineering in particular. This results in the underutilization of the available range of human resources and diverse problem-solving capacity in addressing the types of problems engineers are trained to solve. The lack of female representation in STEM fields may be associated with gender stereotypes and cultural practices that steer women away from engineering, a process that begins in childhood. This study examined the impact of one type of outreach, a 1-day opportunity for young girls in grades 1 through 5 to learn about and get hands-on experience with engineering. As part of this program, gender stereotypes as they relate to STEM fields were also discussed. We were interested in children’s interest in and previous experiences with engineering as well as their and their parent’s general beliefs about the child’s abilities in STEM areas. We collected surveys from parents and children prior to the program and from children immediately and 6 months after the program. Results showed that regardless of child age, participating in the program contributed to a significant increase in children’s self-reported engagement in engineering activities and in knowledge and interest in engineering. However, when followed up 6 months later, children’s self-reports in these areas returned to nearly pretest levels. The findings suggest the need for booster engineering experiences to maintain the gains achieved through participating in the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day program

Lymphotoxin-Beta Receptor Blockade Reduces CXCL13 in Lacrimal Glands and Improves Corneal Integrity in the NOD Model of Sjögren\u27s Syndrome

In Sjögren\u27s syndrome, keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye) is associated with infiltration of lacrimal glands by leukocytes and consequent losses of tear-fluid production and the integrity of the ocular surface. We investigated the effect of blockade of the lymphotoxin-beta receptor (LTBR) pathway on lacrimal-gland pathology in the NOD mouse model of Sjögren\u27s syndrome

The Alcohol Intervention Training Program (AITP): A response to alcohol misuse in the farming community

BackgroundFarm men and women in Australia have higher levels of problematic alcohol use than their urban counterparts and experience elevated health risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption. The Sustainable Farm Families (SFF) program has worked successfully with farm men and women to address health, well- being and safety and has identified that further research and training is required to understand and address alcohol misuse behaviours. This project will add an innovative component to the program by training health professionals working with farm men and women to discuss and respond to alcohol-related physical and mental health problems.Methods/DesignA mixed method design with multi-level evaluation will be implemented following the development and delivery of a training program (The Alcohol Intervention Training Program {AITP}) for Sustainable Farm Families health professionals. Pre-, post- and follow-up surveys will be used to assess both the impact of the training on the knowledge, confidence and skills of the health professionals to work with alcohol misuse and associated problems, and the impact of the training on the attitudes, behaviour and mental health of farm men and women who participate in the SFF project. Evaluations will take a range of forms including self-rated outcome measures and interviews.DiscussionThe success of this project will enhance the health and well-being of a critical population, the farm men and women of Australia, by producing an evidence-based strategy to assist them to adopt more positive alcohol-related behaviours that will lead to better physical and mental health.<br /

Cloning and characterization of the mouse Mcoln1 gene reveals an alternatively spliced transcript not seen in humans

BACKGROUND: Mucolipidosis type IV (MLIV) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorder characterized by severe neurologic and ophthalmologic abnormalities. Recently the MLIV gene, MCOLN1, has been identified as a new member of the transient receptor potential (TRP) cation channel superfamily. Here we report the cloning and characterization of the mouse homologue, Mcoln1, and report a novel splice variant that is not seen in humans. RESULTS: The human and mouse genes display a high degree of synteny. Mcoln1 shows 91% amino acid and 86% nucleotide identity to MCOLN1. Also, Mcoln1 maps to chromosome 8 and contains an open reading frame of 580 amino acids, with a transcript length of approximately 2 kb encoded by 14 exons, similar to its human counterpart. The transcript that results from murine specific alternative splicing encodes a 611 amino acid protein that differs at the c-terminus. CONCLUSIONS: Mcoln1 is highly similar to MCOLN1, especially in the transmembrane domains and ion pore region. Also, the late endosomal/lysosomal targeting signal is conserved, supporting the hypothesis that the protein is localized to these vesicle membranes. To date, there are very few reports describing species-specific splice variants. While identification of Mcoln1 is crucial to the development of mouse models for MLIV, the fact that there are two transcripts in mice suggests an additional or alternate function of the gene that may complicate phenotypic assessment