Evaluation of technology aimed to improve nitrogen use efficiency for delayedlood rice (Oryza sativa L.) production

Improving nitrogen (N) use efficiency is crucial for maximizing growth and yield in rice production. Tools to determine precise midseason N rates as well as knowledge of the effects of starter fertilizer N applications on rice growth and yield are lacking. Field experiments were conducted in 2007 and 2008 at the Delta Research and Extension Center to evaluate canopy reflectance as a means for determining yield and N nutrition at midseason and to assess agronomic effects and N recovery efficiency of starter fertilizer N. Measurable in-season parameters were significantly related to grain yield. Grain yield and measured parameters were related to canopy reflectance. The results of this study support the continued research of canopy reflectance for predicting N nutrition indicators and yield. Minimal growth responses were observed when starter N was applied to seedling rice. Nitrogen recovery increased significantly throughout the growing season; however, less than 20% recovery was obtained

The relationship between leadership preference of county level personnel within University of Missouri Extension and their level of employee engagement

The purpose of this study was to describe the perceived leadership style of the University of Missouri Extension Service county staff and their level of engagement and study the relationship between variables. Administrators with University of Missouri Extension Service can utilize this information to better serve Extension Staff and ultimately people throughout the state of Missouri. The Vannsimpco Leadership Survey was used to measure the perceived leadership style of county level staff. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) was used to measure work engagement on three constructs: vigor, absorption, and dedication engagement. Demographic characterizes of county level staff was also collected. An online survey utilizing Qualtrics achieved a 44% response rate (N = 448). University of Missouri Extension county-level staff were female working in the Youth and Family discipline. These individuals were between 51 and 60 years of age and had worked for University of Missouri Extension for less than five years. Participants reported democratic leadership as the most perceived leadership style while laissez-faire leadership was the least perceived style. Autocratic and autocratic-transformational leadership was significantly impacted by length of service with the Extension service. Participants aged between 41-50 years old showed increased democratic-transformational leadership perceptions. Additionally, an increase in length of service resulted in a decrease in transformational leadership. Research found that county level staff maintained strong levels of engagement while performing their duties. Also, research found there were no significant relationships between perceived leadership styles and levels of work engagement. The implications from this study include potential in-service trainings to provide county Engagement Specialists with approaches to improve leadership traits and employee engagement. The themes gained from this research may offer definitions of leadership and employee engagement which could be utilized in future research

A Qualitative Exploration of Student Spiritual Development in a Living-Learning Community

The purpose of this study is to examine the spiritual development of eight participants in a living-learning community at Abilene Christian University. Using a qualitative methodology, this study attempted to capture the voices of participants as they concluded a year together in a Barrett Hall living-learning community (LCC). Data were collected over a period of 2-3 weeks through individual semi-structured interviews, as well as one focus group comprised of all eight community members. Data were analyzed to capture meaningful themes and categories. Implications for practice are discussed

Actions of certain arithmetic groups on Gromov hyperbolic spaces

We study the variety of actions of a fixed (Chevalley) group on arbitrary geodesic, Gromov hyperbolic spaces. In high rank we obtain a complete classification. In rank one, we obtain some partial results and give a conjectural picture.Comment: v1: 23 pages, 4 figures. v2: 24 pages, 4 figures. Fixed a bad typo in Claim 3.3 and made some other small changes. v3: A few small clarifications. To appear in AG

Examining Mattering, Spiritual Mattering, and First-Year Retention at a Private, Religiously-Affiliated Institution of Higher Education

The primary purpose of this project was to explore how Schlossberg’s (1989) theory of college student’s mattering relates to college student retention in the context of a Christian institution of higher education. In addition, the authors created and tested a “spiritual mattering” measure based on Schlossberg’s theory. Mattering is a self-perception that refers to how important we believe we are to others. Schlossberg (1989) inserted this concept into the realm of higher education when she examined mattering and adult students returning to college. The purpose of the study was accomplished through the following three research objectives: a) Determining whether “institutional” mattering predicts fall-to-fall semester persistence of first-year students at a religiously-affiliated campus; b) Constructing a spiritual mattering measure and assessing its psychometric properties; and c) Determining whether spiritual mattering predicts fall-to-fall semester persistence of first-year students at a Christian institution of higher education. The results of the study supported the hypothesis that higher scores for both spiritual mattering and university mattering were significantly related to higher retention rates at an institution of higher education

The influence of recollection and familiarity in the formation and updating of associative representations

Prior representations affect future learning. Little is known, however, about the effects of recollective or familiarity-based representations on such learning. We investigate the ability to reuse or reassociate elements from recollection- and familiarity-based associations to form new associations. Past neuropsychological research suggests that hippocampal, and presumably recollective, representations are more flexible than extra-hippocampal, presumably familiarity-based, representations. We therefore hypothesize that the elements of recollective associations, as opposed to familiarity-based representations, may be more easily manipulated and decoupled from each other, and facilitate the formation of new associations. To investigate this hypothesis we used the AB/AC learning paradigm. Across two recall studies we observed an advantage in learning AC word pairs if AB word pairs were initially recollected. Furthermore, AB word pairs were more likely to intrude during a final AC test if those AB word pairs were initially familiarity-based. A third experiment using a recognition version of the AB/AC paradigm ruled out the possibility that our findings were due to memory strength. Our results support the idea that elements in recollective associative traces may be more discretely coded, leading to their flexible use, whereas elements in familiarity-based associative traces are less flexible