Identifying the Behavioral Intent to Use Social Media through the application of UTAUT in ANR and Turfgrass Extension

Little research exists on the role Extension Agricultural and Natural Resources professionals play in communicating information about new turfgrass cultivars. In an effort to analyze behavioral intentions related to social media and its use in the turfgrass industry, the researchers drew from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). A pilot instrument was developed to measure the intent of University researchers and county-based Extension professionals to use social media to disseminate turfgrass information, as well as their use of social media for seeking turfgrass information. This case study examined the role of county-based ANR Extension professionals across six states, analyzing their role as either creators or disseminators of ANR and turfgrass information, their intent to use social media, and their use of these communications to engage with ANR and turfgrass information. Findings of this study show that Facebook is the primary communications channel used by county-based Extension professionals. Further, it has been determined that the role of the county-based Extension professional in “creating” verses “using” previously established research-based information to disseminate to clientele is not well-defined. Broader implications include examination of performance expectations of county-based personnel related to their use of social media for communicating turfgrass information

By popular demand: what people want from a resource efficient economy

To make a successful transition to a low carbon, resource efficient economy, businesses and governments need to understand what people value and want from the products and services they use. This report presents findings from research carried out by the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products (CIE-MAP) on public attitudes towards policies intended to improve resource efficiency. The analysis is based on a detailed, representative survey and focus group data collected between 2016 and 2018. Significantly, the research shows that measures offering the biggest carbon savings, and over which the government has most control, are those that are most popular with the public. Here, we demonstrate how government and businesses can make the most of the opportunity offered by resource efficiency for household goods to improve material use and reduce emissions

Early Anglo-Saxon glass beads: Composition and origins based on the finds from RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk

This study reports upon the compositional analysis of early Anglo-Saxon (5th-7th centuries AD) glass beads from the cemetery complex at RAF Lakenheath (Eriswell), Suffolk. Major element analysis was undertaken using energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometry in the scanning electron microscope (SEM-EDS) on 537 samples from a total of 380 monochrome and polychrome beads. Trace element analysis was undertaken by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LAICP- MS) on 75 different samples from 65 of these beads. SEM-EDS analyses are also reported for a small number of glass beads from the early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Spong Hill, Bergh Apton and Morning Thorpe in Norfolk. The beads analysed were produced from soda-lime-silica glass, which was originally made in the Near East from a mixture of a natron and calcareous quartz-rich sand. They have been grouped and compared according to the base glass types represented and their colourant technology. These groups have been systematically compared to a well-established typology and chronology for these beads. The results demonstrate that the Anglo-Saxon glass bead industry was dependent upon the recycling of Roman material during the 5th and 6th centuries, but there is no evidence to suggest continuity in the glass industry from the preceding Roman period. Imported bead types were probably manufactured using a fresh supply of raw glass imported from the Near East. At some point in the latter half of the 6th century there appears to have been a drastic and rapid change in beadmaking practices. The Anglo-Saxon beadmaking industry in England appears to have largely collapsed, except for the production of a few crude bead types produced in the 7th century. Imported bead types come to dominate, but natron glass appears to have been in short supply by this time

By popular demand: what people want from a resource efficient economy

To make a successful transition to a low carbon, resource efficient economy, businesses and governments need to understand what people value and want from the products and services they use. This report presents findings from research carried out by the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products (CIE-MAP) on public attitudes towards policies intended to improve resource efficiency. The analysis is based on a detailed, representative survey and focus group data collected between 2016 and 2018. Significantly, the research shows that measures offering the biggest carbon savings, and over which the government has most control, are those that are most popular with the public. Here, we demonstrate how government and businesses can make the most of the opportunity offered by resource efficiency for household goods to improve material use and reduce emissions

The biological and biomechanical role of transglutaminase-2 in the tumour microenvironment

Transglutaminase-2 (TG2) is the most highly and ubiquitously expressed member of the transglutaminase enzyme family and is primarily involved in protein cross-linking. TG2 has been implicated in the development and progression of numerous cancers, with a direct role in multiple cellular processes and pathways linked to apoptosis, chemoresistance, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and stem cell phenotype. The tumour microenvironment (TME) is critical in the formation, progression, and eventual metastasis of cancer, and increasing evidence points to a role for TG2 in matrix remodelling, modulation of biomechanical properties, cell adhesion, motility, and invasion. There is growing interest in targeting the TME therapeutically in response to advances in the understanding of its critical role in disease progression, and a number of approaches targeting biophysical properties and biomechanical signalling are beginning to show clinical promise. In this review we aim to highlight the wide array of processes in which TG2 influences the TME, focussing on its potential role in the dynamic tissue remodelling and biomechanical events increasingly linked to invasive and aggressive behaviour. Drug development efforts have yielded a range of TG2 inhibitors, and ongoing clinical trials may inform strategies for targeting the biomolecular and biomechanical function of TG2 in the TME

Report on Offense Grading In New Jersey

The University of Pennsylvania Criminal Law Research Group was commissioned to do a study of offense grading in New Jersey. After an examination of New Jersey criminal law and a survey of New Jersey residents, the CLRG issued this Final Report. (For the report of a similar project for Pennsylvania, see Report on Offense Grading in Pennsylvania, http://ssrn.com/abstract=1527149, and for an article about the grading project, see The Modern Irrationalities of American Criminal Codes: An Empirical Study of Offense Grading, http://ssrn.com/abstract=1539083, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (forthcoming 2011).) The New Jersey study found serious conflicts between the relative grading judgments of New Jersey residents and those contained in existing New Jersey criminal law, as well as instances where mandatory minimum sentences often require sentences that exceed the maximum appropriate punishment, inconsistencies among the grading of similar offenses, overly broad offenses that impose similar grades on conduct of importantly different seriousness, and a flawed grading structure that provides too few grading categories, thereby assuring pervasive problems in failing to distinguish conduct of importantly different seriousness. These systemic failures risk undermining the criminal justice system\u27s moral credibility with the community, improperly delegate the value judgments inherent in grading decisions to individual sentencing judges ad hoc, fail to give citizens notice of the relative importance of conflicting duties, and invite application of different sentencing rules to similarly situated offenders. The Report examines how these grading problems came about, how they might be fixed, and how such grading irrationalities might be avoided in the future

Report on Offense Grading In New Jersey

The University of Pennsylvania Criminal Law Research Group was commissioned to do a study of offense grading in New Jersey. After an examination of New Jersey criminal law and a survey of New Jersey residents, the CLRG issued this Final Report. (For the report of a similar project for Pennsylvania, see Report on Offense Grading in Pennsylvania, http://ssrn.com/abstract=1527149, and for an article about the grading project, see The Modern Irrationalities of American Criminal Codes: An Empirical Study of Offense Grading, http://ssrn.com/abstract=1539083, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (forthcoming 2011).) The New Jersey study found serious conflicts between the relative grading judgments of New Jersey residents and those contained in existing New Jersey criminal law, as well as instances where mandatory minimum sentences often require sentences that exceed the maximum appropriate punishment, inconsistencies among the grading of similar offenses, overly broad offenses that impose similar grades on conduct of importantly different seriousness, and a flawed grading structure that provides too few grading categories, thereby assuring pervasive problems in failing to distinguish conduct of importantly different seriousness. These systemic failures risk undermining the criminal justice system\u27s moral credibility with the community, improperly delegate the value judgments inherent in grading decisions to individual sentencing judges ad hoc, fail to give citizens notice of the relative importance of conflicting duties, and invite application of different sentencing rules to similarly situated offenders. The Report examines how these grading problems came about, how they might be fixed, and how such grading irrationalities might be avoided in the future