Shifting Rurality American Gothic, Iowa Nice, Biotech and Political Expectations in Rural America

This paper traces the linkage between heritage landscape within the context of the election of Donal Trump. Trump\u27s invocations of heritage riled certain regions of the US which had a distinct connection to Regionalism, both as a political idea and as an aesthetic practice. Focusing on Iowa, home to the quintessential American painting, American Gothic, the paper looks at modernity and agriculture, and how the two categories seem to rely on (but also negate) heritage. By examining what a genetically modified landscape might mean in relation to the historical image of the pastoral/provincial farmer, a network of frictions and tensions emerge. These building dichotomies have both emancipatory and hegemonic potentials especially with the enmeshment of all things in global scale capitalism

Academic Diversity: Reading Instruction for Students with Special Needs

Provisions to assure that all children are provided quality reading instruction have always been a concern for classroom teachers. Today, greater sensitivity to learners with special needs has led to their inclusion in regular classrooms for the full instructional day. Implications for the reading instructional program are clear; it must employ a variety of instructional and organizational techniques to suit a wide range of student abilities. This article addresses legislation that led to the present focus on classroom inclusion for students with special needs and accommodation of the students with special needs in the classroom reading program. Particular discussion is focused on children who are diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and children identified as intellectually gifted. Specific recommendations and examples are given that will help these children reach their full academic potential and allow them to experience success in a regular classroom reading program

Investigations and research in Nevada by the Water Resources Division, U. S. Geological Survey, 1982-83

The Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, is charged with (1) maintaining a hydrologic network in Nevada that provides information on the status of the State\u27s water resources and (2) engaging in technical water-resources investigations that have a high degree of transferability. To meet these broad objections, 26 projects were active in Nevada during fiscal year 1982 in cooperation with 36 Federal, State, and local agencies. Total funds were $3,319,455, of which State and local cooperative funding amounted to$741,500 and Federal funding (comprised of Geological Survey Federal and cooperative programs plus funds from six other Federal agencies) amounted to $2,577,955 for the fiscal year.Projects other than continuing programs for collection of hydrologic data included the following topics of study: geothermal resources, areal ground-water resources and ground-water modeling, waste disposal, prehistoric hydrology, acid mine drainage, the unsaturated zone, stream and reservoir sedimentation, river-quality modeling, flood hazards, and remote sensing in hydrology. For each project, the objectives, approach, progress in fiscal year 1982, and plans for fiscal year 1983 are described herein. A total of 26 reports and symposium abstracts were published or in press during fiscal year 1982 as an outgrowth of project work in the State

Which nondrug alternatives can help with insomnia?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) interventions -- particularly stimulus control and sleep hygiene -- are well-validated, effective treatments for chronic insomnia that are equivalent or superior to pharmacological interventions (strength of recommendation: A, based on systematic reviews). The long-term efficacy of CBT interventions, and their successful implementation by primary care physician (as compared with behavioral science providers), is unclear

Structured decision making as a conceptual framework to identify thresholds for conservation and management

Threshold and their relevance to conservation have become a major topic of discussion in the ecological literature. Unfortunately, in many cases the lack of a clear conceptual framework for thinking about thresholds in terms of a structured decision making process. The purpose of this framework is to promote a logical and transparent process for making informed decisions for conservation. Specification of such a framework leads naturally to consideration of definitions and roles of different kinds of thresholds in the process. We distinguish among three categories of thresholds. Ecological thresholds are values of system state variables at which small changes bring about substantial changes in system dynamics. Utility thresholds are components of management objectives (determined by human values) and are values of state or performance variables at which small changes yield substantial changes in the value of the management outcome. Decision thresholds are values of system state variables at which small changes prompt changes in management actions in order to reach specified management objectives. The approach that we present focuses directly on the objectives of management, with an aim to providing decisions that are optimal with respect to those objectives. This approach clearly distinguishes the components of the decision process that are inherently subjective (management objectives, potential management actions) from those that are more objectives (system models, estimates of system state). Optimization based on these components then leads to decision matrices specifying optimal actions to be taken at various values of system state variables. Values of state variables separating different actions in such matrices are viewed as decision thresholds. Utility thresholds are included i the objectives component, and ecological thresholds may be embedded in models projecting consequences of management actions. Decision threshold are determined by the above-listed components of a structured decision thresholds inherited from them. These dynamic decision thresholds can then be determined using adaptive management. We provide numerical examples (that are based on patch occupancy models) of structured decision processes that include all three kinds of thresholds

Structured decision making as a conceptual framework to identify thresholds for conservation and management

Thresholds and their relevance to conservation have become a major topic of discussion in the ecological literature. Unfortunately, in many cases the lack of a clear conceptual framework for thinking about thresholds may have led to confusion in attempts to apply the concept of thresholds to conservation decisions. Here, we advocate a framework for thinking about thresholds in terms of a structured decision making process. The purpose of this framework is to promote a logical and transparent process for making informed decisions for conservation. Specification of such a framework leads naturally to consideration of definitions and roles of different kinds of thresholds in the process. We distinguish among three categories of thresholds. Ecological thresholds are values of system state variables at which small changes bring about substantial changes in system dynamics. Utility thresholds are components of management objectives (determined by human values) and are values of state or performance variables at which small changes yield substantial changes in the value of the management outcome. Decision thresholds are values of system state variables at which small changes prompt changing in management actions in order to reach specified management objectives. The approach that we present focuses directly on the objectives of management, with an aim to providing decisions that are optimal with respect to those objectives. This approach clearly distinguishes the components of he decision process that are inherently subjective (management objectives, potential management actions) from those that are more objective (systems models, estimates of system state). Optimization based on these components then leads to decision matrices specifying optimal actions to be taken at various values of system state variables. Values of state variables separating different actions in such matrices are viewed as decision thresholds. Utility thresholds are included in the objectives component, and ecological thresholds may be embedded in models projecting consequences of management actions. Decision thresholds are determined by the above-listed components of a structured decision process. These components may themselves vary over time, inducing variation in the decision threshold inherited from them. These dynamic decision thresholds can then be determined using adaptive management. We provide numerical examples (that are based on patch occupancy models) of structures decision process that include all three kinds of thresholds

Earnings Surprises and the Options Market

Numerous articles over the past few decades have documented a consistent relationship between earnings surprises and subsequent stock price performance. [See, for example, Ball and Brown (1968), Rendleman, Jones, and Latane (1982), Foster, Olsen, and Shevlin (1984), and Bernard and Thomas (1989).] Specifically when firms announce quarterly earnings figures that are higher (lower) than market expectations, as proxied by either mechanical time-series models or commercially available analysts’ forecasts, the stock price performance following the announcement tends to be abnormally good (bad). This phenomenon is referred to as post-earnings-announcement drift or the standardized unexpected earnings effect, SUE for short

Earnings Surprises and the Options Market

Numerous articles over the past few decades have documented a consistent relationship between earnings surprises and subsequent stock price performance. [See, for example, Ball and Brown (1968), Rendleman, Jones, and Latane (1982), Foster, Olsen, and Shevlin (1984), and Bernard and Thomas (1989).] Specifically when firms announce quarterly earnings figures that are higher (lower) than market expectations, as proxied by either mechanical time-series models or commercially available analysts’ forecasts, the stock price performance following the announcement tends to be abnormally good (bad). This phenomenon is referred to as post-earnings-announcement drift or the standardized unexpected earnings effect, SUE for short

A Relational Model for Honors Education: From Contagion to Permeability

This article considers the value of honors education beyond its marked contributions to enrollment management goals. Suggesting that quantitative assessments toward understanding the value of honors fail to capture its breadth, interdisciplinary focus, and engagement, authors posit a new way of measuring impacts from “contagion model” (spillover to campus and beyond) to “permeability model” (interface across campus). Pointing to the benefits of permeability for both honors and the broader campus communities, authors encourage practitioners to foster exchange in curricular offerings, spatial inputs, scholarly outputs, extramural funding, and institutional support. The meaning and history of organizational permeability is explored, and examples are provided

Clinical and molecular genetic features of pulmonary hypertension in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia

BACKGROUND: Most patients with familial primary pulmonary hypertension have defects in the gene for bone morphogenetic protein receptor II (BMPR2), a member of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) superfamily of receptors. Because patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia may have lung disease that is indistinguishable from primary pulmonary hypertension, we investigated the genetic basis of lung disease in these patients. METHODS: We evaluated members of five kindreds plus one individual patient with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and identified 10 cases of pulmonary hypertension. In the two largest families, we used microsatellite markers to test for linkage to genes encoding TGF-beta-receptor proteins, including endoglin and activin-receptor-like kinase 1 (ALK1), and BMPR2. In subjects with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and pulmonary hypertension, we also scanned ALK1 and BMPR2 for mutations. RESULTS: We identified suggestive linkage of pulmonary hypertension with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia on chromosome 12q13, a region that includes ALK1. We identified amino acid changes in activin-receptor-like kinase 1 that were inherited in subjects who had a disorder with clinical and histologic features indistinguishable from those of primary pulmonary hypertension. Immunohistochemical analysis in four subjects and one control showed pulmonary vascular endothelial expression of activin-receptor-like kinase 1 in normal and diseased pulmonary arteries. CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary hypertension in association with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia can involve mutations in ALK1. These mutations are associated with diverse effects, including the vascular dilatation characteristic of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and the occlusion of small pulmonary arteries that is typical of primary pulmonary hypertension