Enterprising Rural Families: Making It Work

Enterprising Rural Families (ERFTM) is an international course for the rural family in business. ERFTM teaches a process of finding success, resilience and satisfaction for rural families engaged in enterprises; including agriculture. Instructors from the United States, Canada and Australia have teamed together to offer this course that focuses on the three main components of a family business: individuals, the family unit and the business enterprise. This course also allows families in business to increase their awareness of cultural differences and similarities and improve their understanding of global issues. The course consists of written presentations, online chat sessions, threaded discussions, readings, videos, case studies and individual projects. Using these mechanisms, the online interaction provides rural families with both the tools and skills to resolve immediate family business issues and build a profitable business for the future.Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management,

In vitro effect of canine hyperimmune sera on TNFa activity

[Introduction]: Septic shock in dogs is caused by cardiovascular and vasomotor failure associated with an uncontrolled intrinsic release of inflammatory mediators [1–5]. The syndrome is characterized by cardiovascular dysfunction, vascular permeability alterations, pulmonary oedema and tissue hypoxia resulting from microthrombi which may culminate in disseminated intravascular coagulation and catastrophic multiple organ failure [6,7]. Systemic bacterial infection, particularly by Gram-negative enterobacteria, haemorrhagic trauma, gastric dilation/volvulus and pancreatitis are the major underlying causes leading tosepsis [8,9]. Because of haemodynamic instability and associated hypovolemia, fluid replacement therapy is generally applied to restore effective circulating volume. The use of fresh frozen plasma has been recommended in cases of coagulopathies as it has been recognized to assist restoration of haemodynamic stability [1,5,10,11]. There is increasing evidence that the drivers of the haemodynamic instability are inflammatory mediators (particularly TNFa) activated primarily by bacterial endotoxin [3,4,12,13]

Rheological and Particle Size Changes in Corn Oil-In Water Emulsions Stabilized by 7S Soybean Proteins

The viscoelastic properties and mean drop size (Om) of corn oil-in-water emulsions stabllized by 0.5-1.5% (wt/wt) 7S soybean proteins have been examined at various pH•s . Changes 1n these parameters when the ernul sions were stored at 4-5°C were measured also. Viscoelasticity ~arameters were derived from time-dependent strain behaviour at a constant low shear stress of 41 .7 dyne cm- 2. Although each emulsion showed a continuous increase in D during storage, due to drOIJ coalescence, 1l s instantaneous elastic modu l us (G) rose initially over several days to an op£imum value and then subsequently decreased, The trends in D and G , which indicat ~d that the dominant proce$0! during early storage was drop flocculation and drop coalescence at longer times, were used to deduce the structure of the flocculated drop networks

In situ analysis of solvent/nonsolvent exchange and phase separation processes during the membrane formation of polylactides

Membrane formation of polylactides has been studied using in situ analysis techniques. An experimental method based on the use of dark ground optics and reflected light illumination is used to monitor the mass transfer and phase separation dynamics during for mation. Additionally, the phase separation and structure formation has been studied using optical microscopy. The results of the dark ground optics technique for the polymer/solvent/nonsolvent systems poly-L-lactide/chloroform/methanol and poly-DL-lactide/chloroform/methanol showed that the diffusion kinetics were similar for the semicrystalline poly-L-lactide (PLLA) and the amorphous poly-DL-lactide. The influence of the molecular weight of the polymers on the diffusion kinetics was found to be negligible. Increasing the polymer concentration of the casting solution decreased the rate of diffusion. The phase separation of poly-DL-lactide was studied with optical microscopy and found to proceed via liquid-liquid demixing. For poly-L-lactide solutions of relatively low concentration (5-6% w/w), phase separation proceeded via liquid-liquid demixing followed by crystallization. For more concentrated PLLA solutions, phase separation proceeded directly via solid-liquid demixing processes. Additionally, for 6% w/w solutions of poly-L-lactide in dioxane immersed in methanol, precipitation also occurred solely via solid-liquid demixing

The impact of childhood language difficulties on healthcare costs from 4 to 13 years: Australian longitudinal study

© 2016 The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited Published by Taylor & Francis. Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between children’s language difficulties and health care costs using the 2004–2012 Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Method: Language difficulties were defined as scores ≤1.25SD below the standardised mean on measures of directly assessed receptive vocabulary (4–9 years) and teacher-reported language and literacy (10–13 years). Participant data were individually linked to administrative data, which were sourced from Australia’s universal subsidised healthcare scheme (Medicare). Result: It was found that healthcare costs over each 2-year age band were higher for children with language difficulties than without in the 4–5-year-age bracket (mean difference = AU$357, 95$59, $659), in the 6–7-year-age bracket (mean difference = AU$602, 95%CI $136,$1068) and in the 10–11-year-age bracket (mean difference = AU$504, 95$153, $854). Out-of-pocket costs, that is the portion of healthcare costs paid for by the family, were also higher for children with than without language difficulties in the 4–5-year-age bracket (mean difference = AU$123, 95%CI $46,$199), in the 6–7-year-age bracket (mean difference = AU$176, 95$74,278) and in the 10–11-year-age bracket (mean difference = AU$79, 95$6, $152). Medical services accounted for 97% of total healthcare cost differences. Conclusion: Overall the findings from this study suggest that language difficulties are associated with increased healthcare costs at key developmental milestones, notably early childhood and as a child approaches the teenage years

The effects of an experimental programme to support students’ autonomy on the overt behaviours of physical education teachers

Although the benefits of autonomy supportive behaviours are now well established in the literature, very few studies have attempted to train teachers to offer a greater autonomy support to their students. In fact, none of these studies has been carried out in physical education (PE). The purpose of this study is to test the effects of an autonomy-supportive training on overt behaviours of teaching among PE teachers. The experimental group included two PE teachers who were first educated on the benefits of an autonomy supportive style and then followed an individualised guidance programme during the 8 lessons of a teaching cycle. Their behaviours were observed and rated along 3 categories (i.e., autonomy supportive, neutral and controlling) and were subsequently compared to those of three teachers who formed the control condition. The results showed that teachers in the experimental group used more autonomy supportive and neutral behaviours than those in the control group, but no difference emerged in relation to controlling behaviours. We discuss the implications for schools of our findings