Servant Leadership as a Framework for Building University Community: The Intersecting Missions of Faith Partners and Public Higher Education Institutions

As community engagement approaches continue to expand in urban-identified public colleges and universities, so have innovative community-university partnerships that now span a wide range of public and private sector organizations. Partnerships between public universities and faith-based institutions, however, have sometimes lagged because public universities have yet to appreciate ways in which their public missions align with those of local faith-based organizations. This paper examines the partnership established between a large, urban-identified, public research university and one of its campus ministries to implement a servant leadership model and asset-based community development methodology designed to enable the university community to work collaboratively, recognize their own and others’ gifts and talents, and improve their own broadly-defined diverse communities. This research shows that through a servant leadership framework, faith can inform and enact this public mission to create active and engaged citizens. The asset-based partnership model shows promise for realizing the intersecting missions of faith partners and public higher education institutions, which can be replicated in with other institutions

Long-Term Economic Impacts of No-Till Adoption in the US Midwest

The practice of no-till farming has gained attention in agriculture due to its potential to improve soil health, deliver environmental benefits, and increase farmers’ profits. Despite these agronomic and ecological benefits, national adoption remains limited, with only 27.5% of cropland under no-till in 2022 (USDA-NASS, 2024). A central barrier to broader adoption is uncertainty about the long-term economic returns of no-till, given variation across soil types, crops, and management practices. This study assesses the net economic impact of sustained no-till use over 30 years, utilizing plot-level data from long-term field trials conducted in Ohio and Michigan. We quantify treatment effects on crop yields and input costs using site-by-crop fixed effects models and calculate net changes in profitability via partial budgeting that accounts for seed, fertilizer, pesticide, and field operation costs. Our results indicate that no-till consistently reduces operational costs and generates positive net returns relative to chisel tillage, even when accounting for yield variation across sites. These findings suggest that long-term use of no-till farming has great potential to offer a significant positive impact on farmers' profitability

pfk13-Independent Treatment Failure in Four Imported Cases of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Treated with Artemether-Lumefantrine in the United Kingdom.

We present case histories of four patients treated with artemether-lumefantrine for falciparum malaria in UK hospitals in 2015 to 2016. Each subsequently presented with recurrent symptoms and Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia within 6 weeks of treatment with no intervening travel to countries where malaria is endemic. Parasite isolates, all of African origin, harbored variants at some candidate resistance loci. No evidence of pfk13-mediated artemisinin resistance was found. Vigilance for signs of unsatisfactory antimalarial efficacy among imported cases of malaria is recommended

Earnings Benefits of Tulsa's Pre-K Program for Different Income Groups

This paper estimates future adult earnings effects associated with a universal pre-K program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. These informed projections help to compensate for the lack of long-term data on universal pre-K programs, while using metrics that relate test scores to valued social benefits. Combining test-score data from the fall of 2006 and recent findings by Chetty et al. (forthcoming) on the relationship between kindergarten test scores and adult earnings, we generate plausible projections of adult earnings effects and a partial cost-benefit analysis of the Tulsa pre-K program. We find substantial projected earnings benefits for program participants who differ by income and by program dosage. The dollar effects and benefit-cost ratios are similar across groups, with benefit-to-cost ratios of approximately 3 or 4 to 1. Because we only consider adult earnings benefits, actual benefit-cost ratios are likely higher, especially for disadvantaged children

Revisiting the Gaia Hypothesis: Maximum Entropy, Kauffman’s ‘Fourth Law’ and Physiosemeiosis

Recently, Kleidon suggested to analyze Gaia as a non-equilibrium thermodynamic system that continuously moves away from equilibrium, driven by maximum entropy production which materializes in hierarchically coupled mechanisms of energetic flows via dissipation and physical work. I relate this view with Kauffman's 'Fourth Law of Thermodynamics', which I interprete as a proposition about the accumulation of information in evolutionary processes. The concept of physical work is expanded to including work directed at the capacity to work: I offer a twofold specification of Kauffman's concept of an 'autonomous agent', one as a 'self-referential heat engine', and the other in terms of physiosemeiosis, which is a naturalized application of Peirce's theory of signs. The conjunction of these three theoretical sources, Maximum Entropy, Kauffman's Fourth Law, and physiosemeiosis, shows that the Kleidon restatement of the Gaia hypothesis is equivalent to the proposition that the biosphere is generating, processing and storing information, thus directly treating information as a physical phenomenon. There is a fundamental ontological continuity between the biological processes and the human economy, as both are seen as information processing and entropy producing systems. Knowledge and energy are not substitutes, with energy and information being two aspects of the same underlying physical process

Environmentalism, pre-environmentalism, and public policy

In the last decade, thousands of new grassroots groups have formed to oppose environmental pollution on the basis that it endangers their health. These groups have revitalized the environmental movement and enlarged its membership well beyond the middle class. Scientists, however, have been unable to corroborate these groups' claims that exposure to pollutants has caused their diseases. For policy analysts this situation appears to pose a choice between democracy and science. It needn't. Instead of evaluating the grassroots groups from the perspective of science, it is possible to evaluate science from the perspective of environmentalism. This paper argues that environmental epidemiology reflects ‘pre-environmentalist’ assumptions about nature and that new ideas about nature advanced by the environmental movement could change the way scientists collect and interpret data.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45449/1/11077_2005_Article_BF01006494.pd

Switchgrass tolerance to cadmium: uptake and translocation

Recent efforts have been initiated to develop switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) as a bioenergy crop. Switchgrass requires input of nitrogen (N) to be productive. Alternatives to inorganic fertilizers are needed to reduce input costs and maintain a positive energy balance. Municipal sludge may be an economical source of N and other nutrients for biomass production; however, the response of switchgrass to heavy metals in the sludge is not known. Two greenhouse studies and a 2-yr field study were conducted to determine the interaction of (1) cultivar and cadmium (Cd)application, (2) soil pH and Cd application, and (3) soil moisture and Cd application on biomass accumulation and Cd allocation of switchgrass. In the first experiment, 'Alamo', 'Blackweir, 'Cave-in-Rock', and 'Trailblazer' switchgrass were grown in sand culture and were watered twice weekly with nutrient solution containing 0, 1,2, 4, 8, or 16 mg Cd L^-1. Cultivars differed (P0.05) affected by either irrigation or Cd level in 1995 or 1996. Concentrations of Cd in aboveground tissue ranged from 0.36 to 0.87 mg kg"'. Alamo switchgrass translocated little Cd to the aboveground portion of the plant at all Cd application levels and tolerated 100 kg ha^-1 of applied Cd. However, in different environments and management systems, Cd concentrations in aboveground tissue may increase to levels above suggested maximum tolerance levels. Producers should maintain soil pH near neutral to minimize Cd accumulation by switchgrass

Factors influencing the establishment of 'Mott' dwarf napiergrass

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