Women Farmers and E-Commerce Opportunities for 21st Century Marketing

Adding the Internet to your Business Recipe: Opportunity for Marketing in the 21st Century. In the fall of 2006, the Center for Rural Studies (CRS) and Women’s Agricultural Network (WAgN) piloted a curriculum for agricultural entrepreneurs interested in incorporating e-commerce features – e.g. email lists, Web sites, online marketing, online ordering – into their operations. This broad definition of e-commerce reflects the integration of information technology and the Internet into business and marketing planning. The workshops were held from 2006 to 2009. Each of the cycles provided insight into how to make future sessions more beneficial to participants. Offering the course even once/year during a period of rapid change in the available technology guaranteed that significant adjustments had to be made to the content each session. This working paper addresses why we took on this challenge, why women farmers became the target audience, how the course was structured, and an overview of the results of the classes to date. Also included are lessons learned from the experience and next steps

Body Dissatisfaction in College Students

Previous literature shows that family pressure leads to drive for thinness (Green & Pritchard, 2003). Given the growth of social media, the intent of our current study was to find which sociocultural pressure: family, peers, or media relates the strongest with body shame, body surveillance, and drive for thinness. A sample of 1,049 undergraduate students, ages 18-29 (770 females and 279 males) were surveyed to better understand what predicts body dissatisfaction in young adults. Results revealed a moderate correlation between all variables, with media pressure being the main predictor of drive for thinness. In addition, our results suggest young adults feel body shame and body surveillance, with an increase in media exposure. The increase in online appearance conversations that develop into body shame support this correlation (Wang et al., 2020). Furthermore, this study highlights the imperativeness of young adults being more aware of online appearance conversations that may develop into body dissatisfaction

Isolation of a vicilin gene from pea (pisum sativum l.), and nuclease sensitivity of seed storage protein genes in pea chromatin

A library of pea genomic DNA in the bacteriophage vector EMBL3 was screened by hybridisation to cDNAs encoding vicilin, a major storage protein of pea (Pisum sativum L.) seeds. A vicilin gene, vic A, was isolated and characterised by restriction mapping and DNA sequencing. The nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequences of vic A were compared to those of vicilin cDNAs, and the gene was found to encode a 50,000M(_r) non-glycosylated vicilin subunit that does not undergo post-translational proteolytic cleavage. The introns in vic A were typical of those in plant genes, being small and high in A+T content, and the nucleotide sequences at the splice sites showed good homology to the plant consensus. The positions of the introns in vic A were similar to those in a gene encoding a subunit of phaseolin, a related protein from French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Methods were developed for the analysis of nuclease sensitivity of specific genes in pea chromatin. The DNAase I sensitivity of the seed storage protein genes was found to be greater in developing cotyledons, where the genes were transcriptionally active, than in leaves, where they were inactive. The pea ribosomal genes showed relative resistance to DNAase I in both tissues. The nucleosome repeat length, determined by digestion of chromatin with micrococcal nuclease, was similar in both tissues. No evidence was obtained for DNAase I hypersensitive sites in pea chromatin. This result supports the findings of two other studies, and suggests that such sites are absent from plant chromatin

Body Image and Social Media in College Students

This study served to relate and connect appearance-related social media preoccupation (SMARP) with body shame, body surveillance, and social physique anxiety (SPA). Using data from the 1,071 participants, a correlational analysis and a hierarchal regression were used. Significant relationships were found between all variables, supporting our first and second hypotheses. Our results confirmed the relationship between social physique anxiety and social media appearance-related preoccupation, adding evidence to a mixed debate about relationships between SPA and social media use. We saw that SPA moderated the relationship between body shame and SMARP. We can conclude that appearance anxieties and appearance-based social media use are related. Media literacy should be expanded as well as literacy on appearance anxieties

“It’s changed my life not to have the continual worry of being warm” – health and wellbeing impacts of a local fuel poverty programme:a mixed-methods evaluation

BACKGROUND: Living in a cold home and being fuel poor can contribute to adverse physical and mental health. Energy efficiency interventions are considered the simplest ways of tackling fuel poverty and preventing associated negative health, wellbeing, and socio-economic consequences. The overall aim of the current study was to provide a greater understanding of the impact of a locally administered programme, which funded the installation of major heating/insulation measures in areas of high fuel poverty, on the health and wellbeing of beneficiaries of the programme. METHODS: A mixed-methods approach to explore the health and wellbeing impacts of a fuel poverty programme in East Sussex that took place between October 2016 and March 2018. Beneficiaries completed the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale before and after any heating/insulation work had been completed in their home. Beneficiaries were also asked to retrospectively rate their health pre- and post-installation. Interviews with 23 beneficiaries of the programme were conducted to explore in-depth the impact of the programme on people’s health and wellbeing and the wider social determinants of health. RESULTS: A major heating/insulation measure was installed in 149 homes. The majority of measures installed were boilers (57.7%) and new central heating systems (32.2%). Self-rated health and wellbeing were significantly higher post-installation. Interviewees described clear examples of the positive impacts on physical health and wellbeing such as fewer chest infections, reduced pain, feeling less anxious and depressed, and generally feeling happier and more relaxed. Interviews also highlighted broader areas of impact such as reduced social isolation and increased use of domestic space. Many of the beneficiaries also reported a reduction in their energy bills since their new heating systems had been installed. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from the evaluation suggest that the installation of major heating or insulation measures such as new boilers have substantial benefits for the health and wellbeing of beneficiaries. The findings also suggest that the programme had a positive impact on wider determinants of health including reduction in stress and isolation that are likely to be part of the pathways between fuel poverty interventions and mental and physical health outcomes

Frontal brain dysfunction in alcoholism with and without antisocial personality disorder

Alcoholism and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) often are comorbid conditions. Alcoholics, as well as nonalcoholic individuals with ASPD, exhibit behaviors associated with prefrontal brain dysfunction such as increased impulsivity and emotional dysregulation. These behaviors can influence drinking motives and patterns of consumption. Because few studies have investigated the combined association between ASPD and alcoholism on neuropsychological functioning, this study examined the influence of ASPD symptoms and alcoholism on tests sensitive to frontal brain deficits. The participants were 345 men and women. Of them, 144 were abstinent alcoholics (66 with ASPD symptoms), and 201 were nonalcoholic control participants (24 with ASPD symptoms). Performances among the groups were examined with Trails A and B tests, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, the Ruff Figural Fluency Test, and Performance subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Measures of affect also were obtained. Multiple regression analyses showed that alcoholism, specific drinking variables (amount and duration of heavy drinking), and ASPD were significant predictors of frontal system and affective abnormalities. These effects were different for men and women. The findings suggested that the combination of alcoholism and ASPD leads to greater deficits than the sum of each