Product Attributes and Consumer Willingness to Pay for Environmental Management Systems in Agriculture: Using the Choice Modeling Technique

Consumer concerns in food purchasing contain a number of elements, including food safety, environment, animal welfare, and other social issues. The purpose of this study was to examine consumer perceptions of the potential benefits of products that are produced using an environmental management system (EMS) in agriculture, and to identify those factors that influence choice. The choice modeling technique uses consumer responses (preferences) to estimate Montrealers= willingness to pay (WTP) for production practices that decrease the impacts on the environment, as well as for other potential benefits of EMS production. Results indicate that consumers are willing to pay a price premium for these environmental benefits. This could provide a justification for government to provide incentives for environmental farm management practices and support to certification and labelling programs.Consumer/Household Economics,

Infrastructure and economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa

This paper analyzes the impact of infrastructure on growth of total factor productivity and per capita income, using both growth accounting techniques and cross-country growth regressions. The two econometric techniques yield some consistent and some different results. Regressions based in the growth accounting framework suggest that electricity production helps explain cross-country differences in total factor productivity growth in the Middle East and North Africa region. Growth regressions support that conclusion, while also stressing an effect of telecommunications infrastructure. Finally, growth regressions also indicate quite consistently that the returns to infrastructure have been lower in the Middle East and North Africa region than in developing countries as a whole.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Achieving Shared Growth,Economic Growth,E-Business,Energy Production and Transportation

Associative memory stored by functional novel pathway rather than modifications of preexisting neuronal pathways

Associative conditioning involves changes in the processing pathways activated by sensory information to link the conditioned stimulus (CS) to the conditioned behavior. Thus, conditioning can recruit neuronal elements to form new pathways for the processing of the CS and/or can change the strength of existing pathways. Using a behavioral and systems level electrophysiological approach on a tractable invertebrate circuit generating feeding in the mollusk Lymnaea stagnalis, we identified three independent pathways for the processing of the CS amyl acetate used in appetitive conditioning. Two of these pathways, one suppressing and the other stimulating feeding, mediate responses to the CS in naive animals. The effects ofthese two pathways on feeding behavior are unaltered by conditioning. In contrast, the CS response ofa third stimulatory pathway is significantly enhanced after conditioning, becoming an importantcontributor to the overall CS response. This is unusual because, in most of the previous examples in which naive animals already respond to the CS, memory formation results from changes in the strength of pathways that mediate the existing response. Here, we show that, in the molluscan feeding system, both modified and unmodified pathways are activated in parallel by the CS after conditioning, and it is their integration that results in the conditioned respons

Timed and targeted differential regulation of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and anti-NOS genes by reward conditioning leading to long-term memory formation

In a number of neuronal models of learning, signaling by the neurotransmitter nitric oxide (NO), synthesized by the enzyme neuronal NO synthase (nNOS), is essential for the formation of long-term memory (LTM). Using the molluscan model system Lymnaea, we investigate here whether LTM formation is associated with specific changes in the activity of members of the NOS gene family: Lym-nNOS1, Lym-nNOS2, and the antisense RNA-producing pseudogene (anti-NOS). We show that expression of the Lym-nNOS1 gene is transiently upregulated in cerebral ganglia after conditioning. The activation of the gene is precisely timed and occurs at the end of a critical period during which NO is required for memory consolidation. Moreover, we demonstrate that this induction of the Lym-nNOS1 gene is targeted to an identified modulatory neuron called the cerebral giant cell (CGC). This neuron gates the conditioned feeding response and is an essential part of the neural network involved in LTM formation. We also show that the expression of the anti-NOS gene, which functions as a negative regulator of nNOS expression, is downregulated in the CGC by training at 4 h after conditioning, during the critical period of NO requirement. This appears to be the first report of the timed and targeted differential regulation of the activity of a group of related genes involved in the production of a neurotransmitter that is necessary for learning, measured in an identified neuron of known function. We also provide the first example of the behavioral regulation of a pseudogene

Suppression of nitric oxide (NO)-dependent behavior by double-stranded RNA-mediated silencing of a neuronal NO synthase gene

We have used double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) to disrupt neuronal nitric oxide (NO) synthase (nNOS) gene function in the snail Lymnaea stagnalis and have detected a specific behavioral phenotype. The injection of whole animals with synthetic dsRNA molecules targeted to the nNOS-encoding mRNA reduces feeding behavior in vivo and fictive feeding in vitro and interferes with NO synthesis by the CNS. By showing that synthetic dsRNA targeted to the nNOS mRNA causes a significant and long-lasting reduction in the levels of Lym-nNOS mRNA, we verify that specific RNAi has occurred. Importantly, our results establish that the expression of nNOS gene is essential for normal feeding behavior. They also show that dsRNA can be used in the investigation of functional gene expression in the context of whole animal behavior, regardless of the availability of targeted mutation technologies

Safety and efficacy of intravenously administered tedisamil for rapid conversion of recent-onset atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter

AbstractObjectivesThe goal of the present study was to assess the efficacy and safety of intravenous tedisamil, a new antiarrhythmic compound, for conversion of recent-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter (AFL) to normal sinus rhythm (NSR).BackgroundTedisamil is a novel antiarrhythmic drug with predominantly class III activity. Its efficacy and safety for conversion of recent onset AF or AFL to NSR is not known.MethodsThis was a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, sequential ascending dose-group trial. A total of 201 patients with symptomatic AF or AFL of 3 to 48 h duration were enrolled in a two-stage study. During stage 1, patients were randomized to receive tedisamil at 0.4 mg/kg body weight or matching placebo; during stage 2, patients received tedisamil at 0.6 mg/kg body weight or matching placebo. Treatments were given as single intravenous infusions. The primary study end point consisted of the percentage of patients converting to NSR for at least 60 s within 2.5 h.ResultsOf 175 patients representing the intention-to-treat sample, conversion to NSR was observed in 41% (25/61) of the tedisamil 0.4 mg/kg group, 51% (27 of 53) of the tedisamil 0.6 mg/kg group, and 7% (4/59) of the placebo group (p < 0.001 for both tedisamil groups vs. placebo). Average time to conversion was 35 min in patients receiving tedisamil. There were two instances of self-terminating ventricular tachycardia: one episode of torsade de pointes and one of monomorphic ventricular tachycardia, both in patients receiving 0.6 mg/kg tedisamil.ConclusionsTedisamil at dosages of 0.4 and 0.6 mg/kg was superior to placebo in converting AF or AFL. Tedisamil has a rapid onset of action leading to conversion within 30 to 40 min in the majority of responders

2014 ISS Potable Water Characterization and Continuation of the DMSD Chronicle

During 2014 the crews from Expeditions 38-41 were resident on the International Space Station (ISS). In addition to the U.S. potable water reclaimed from humidity condensate and urine, the other water supplies available for their use were Russian potable water reclaimed from condensate and Russian ground-supplied potable water. Beginning in June of 2014, and for the fourth time since 2010, the product water from the U.S. Water Processor Assembly (WPA) experienced a rise in the total organic carbon (TOC) level due to organic contaminants breaking through the water treatment process. Results from ground analyses of ISS archival water samples returned on Soyuz 38 confirmed that dimethylsilanediol (DMSD) was once again the contaminant responsible for the rise. With this confirmation in hand and based upon the low toxicity of DMSD, a waiver was approved to allow the crew to continue to consume the water after the TOC level exceeded the U.S. Segment limit of 3 mg/L. Several weeks after the WPA multifiltration beds were replaced, as anticipated based upon experience from previous rises, the TOC levels returned to below the method detection limit of the onboard TOC analyzer (TOCA). This paper presents and discusses the chemical analysis results for the ISS archival potable water samples returned in 2014 and analyzed by the Johnson Space Center's Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry laboratory. These results showed compliance with ISS potable water quality standards and indicated that the potable water supplies were acceptable for crew consumption. Although DMSD levels were at times elevated they remained well below the 35 mg/L health limit, so continued consumption of the U.S potable water was considered a low risk to crew health and safety. Excellent agreement between inflight and archival sample TOC data confirmed that the TOCA performed optimally and it continued to serve as a vital tool for monitoring organic breakthrough and planning remediation action

ICIS Panel Summary: Should Institutional Trust Matter in Information Systems Research?

This paper summarizes and expands the panel on Should Institutional Trust Matter in Information Systems Research? that was presented during the ICIS 2005 Conference in Las Vegas. The panel was co-chaired by Paul A. Pavlou of the University of California and by David Gefen of Drexel University. The panelists were Izak Benbasat of the University of British Columbia, Harrison McKnight of Michigan State University, Katherine Stewart of the University of Maryland, and Detmar W. Straub of Georgia State University. There were about 150 people attending the panel and taking part in the lively discussion that pursued. Due to the interest the panel aroused, this paper expands on the topics discussed and presents them in a much broader perspective in a set of appendices

Proximity effecs and curie temperature enhancement in Co/EuS and Fe/EuS multilayers

Two identical Co/EuS and Fe/EuS multilayers of six periods each and with individual layers of about 4 nm thick are grown by e-beam evaporation under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. The films show polycrystalline structure with a grain size limited by the individual layer thickness. Both multilayers consist of almost continuous layers with some roughness. The surface peak-to-peak roughness is about 4–5 nm. Magnetization measurements and calculations of the loops based on a Stoner–Wohlfarth-like model allow us to determine the direct antiferromagnetic exchange coupling constant between the 3d metal and EuS at 5 K. Both samples show strong enhancement of the Curie temperature of EuS up to at least 50 K with a EuS magnetization tail, which persists up to about 100 K. The J = 7/2 character of the EuS layers is shown to be responsible for the large Curie temperature enhancement

International Space Station Potable Water Characterization for 2013

In this post-construction, operational phase of International Space Station (ISS) with an ever-increasing emphasis on its use as a test-bed for future exploration missions, the ISS crews continue to rely on water reclamation systems for the majority of their water needs. The onboard water supplies include U.S. Segment potable water from humidity condensate and urine, Russian Segment potable water from condensate, and ground-supplied potable water, as reserve. In 2013, the cargo returned on the Soyuz 32-35 flights included archival potable water samples collected from Expeditions 34-37. The former Water and Food Analytical Laboratory (now Toxicology and Evironmental Chemistry Laboratory) at the NASA Johnson Space Center continued its long-standing role of performing chemical analyses on ISS return water samples to verify compliance with potable water quality specifications. This paper presents and discusses the analytical results for potable water samples returned from Expeditions 34-37, including a comparison to ISS quality standards. During the summer of 2013, the U.S. Segment potable water experienced a third temporary rise and fall in total organic carbon (TOC) content, as the result of organic contamination breaking through the water system's treatment process. Analytical results for the Expedition 36 archival samples returned on Soyuz 34 confirmed that dimethylsilanediol was once again the responsible contaminant, just as it was for the previous comparable TOC rises in 2010 and 2012. Discussion herein includes the use of the in-flight total organic carbon analyzer (TOCA) as a key monitoring tool for tracking these TOC rises and scheduling appropriate remediation