Looking Through Rainbow Coloured Glasses: Radio Spectral Variability and its Physical Origins

This thesis investigates supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies producing large, mushroom shaped clouds up to millions of light years across. We focus on baby black holes, which are smaller than typical radio galaxies, often just tens of thousands of light years across. Using telescopes around Australia, this work discovered these black holes are not as young as previously thought, but frustrated teens being restricted by a surrounding cloud of gas

A Preliminary Analysis of the Benefits of Introducing Apomixis into Rice

The objective of this research is to undertake an ex ante economic analysis of basic scientific research that aims to identify the gene(s) that control apomictic reproduction, with the ultimate aim of transferring the characteristic into commercially important crops. This paper reports very preliminary results, using the introduction of apomixis into rice as a case study. Apomixis is a natural, asexual method of plant reproduction resulting in offspring that are genetically identical to the mother plant. Apomixis promises to revolutionize plant breeding by providing a system for crop improvement that allows any desired variety, including hybrids, to breed true. This ability will make both breeding and seed production more efficient. It offers the opportunity for plant breeders to more readily develop varieties that are specifically adapted to local conditions, using, and thus conserving, greater genetic diversity. Apomixis will also allow resource-poor farmers to replant the seed they produce from locally bred varieties year after year, a strategy not possible with today's commercial hybrid varieties. Global changes in aggregate welfare, resource allocation, production and price levels are calculated using the global economy-wide computable general equilibrium model known as GTAP. Preliminary modeling results suggest that the overall welfare gains associated apomictic rice could be substantial.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Valuing agricultural externalities in Canterbury rivers and streams

Water quality and quantity concerns in Canterbury are intrinsically related to agriculture. Monetary values for impacts on streams and rivers is lacking in policy debate. This paper employs choice modelling to estimate values of three impacts on rivers and streams in Canterbury associated with agriculture: health risks of E coli from animal waste, ecological effects of excess nutrients, and low-flow impacts of irrigation. This study provides a valuation of outcomes for public policy implemented in Canterbury such as The Dairy and Clean Streams Accord, Living Streams, and The Restorative Programme for Lowland Streams.non-market-valuation, choice experiment, agricultural externalities, New Zealand, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Can Education Change Society? by Michael Apple

Michael Apple, in his new book, Can Education Change Society, asks us to seriously consider the role of education as a substantive vehicle for engendering change at a societal level. While one might consider a flip answer to the question which acts as the title of this book, Apple pushes us a little harder toward an answer which seems carved in quicksilver: It depends. In his answer, Apple requires that we critically reflect on who we are, who the public is that education serves, what our better natures might be, what our experiences have been, how the historical crafting of academics in the United States predisposes us in various and specific directions, and how all those considerations constitute a knowledge base that acts upon us as we act upon it

Ractopamine hydrochloride and the environmental sustainability of pork production

These experiments were conducted to determine if ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC) could improve nutrient utilization and decrease water use in hog operations. The growth experiment utilized a comparative slaughter technique that consisted of 120 barrows (95 ± 3 kg BW) including 12 assigned to an initial slaughter group; the remaining pigs were slaughtered at 108- or 120-kg. Growth performance and nutrient retention were determined. The 15 d metabolism experiment consisted of 54 pigs (95 ± 3 kg BW). Growth performance, feed, and water intake and urine and fecal output were measured. The metabolism experiment used 9 dietary treatments arranged as a 3 x 3 factorial: 3 levels of RAC (0, 5 and 10 ppm) and 3 standardized ileal digestible lysine: digestible energy (DE) ratios (1.75, 2.25 and 2.75 g/Mcal DE). The growth study was designed as a 3 x 3 x 2 factorial to include slaughter weight as an additional factor. In the growth experiment, RAC had no effect ADG, ADFI, or G:F (P > 0.10). With increased Lys levels G:F improved (P 0.10). Protein deposition rates numerically increased (P = 0.11), water deposition rates tended to increase (P 0.10). Urinary N excretion (P < 0.05), total N excretion (P < 0.05), and the urine N:fecal N ratio (P < 0.001) decreased with addition of dietary RAC; however fecal N (P < 0.05) increased with dietary RAC inclusion. Retention of N improved with addition of RAC to the diet (P < 0.05). With greater dietary Lys inclusion fecal N was reduced (P < 0.001). The pigs fed the 2.25 g/Mcal Lys tended to have the lowest urinary N and total N excretion and highest N retention (P < 0.10) and greatest urinary N:fecal N ratio (P < 0.05). A RAC x Lys interaction was observed for N digestibility, excretion, and retention and fecal and urinary N (P < 0.05). By improving N and water utilization in finishing pigs, RAC containing diets supplemented with sufficient Lys can reduce the environmental footprint of pork production

Propositions for a biocultural semiotics

The author has used the term ‘biocultural semiotics’ in her previous work, but has never defined this field. She presents twelve propositions that describe and motivate a biocultural semiotics. The author draws on thirty years of field work in Belize and her previous research in cultural and bio-semiotics in support of each of the propositions. Propositions include: biology and culture are so bound as to make a discussion of either without inclusion of the other impossible; both umwelt and the sign are central; every sign is an act of communication; every sign has many interpretant(s); perception is influenced by our physical and cultural umwelt; self is critical to our vision of our place in this umwelt; epigenetic phenomena influence how genes are expressed and effect/affect both phenotype and behaviour; body boundaries are cultural and political creations; the body is a political body and its ownership is always contested; disease and its congeners are cultural constructs; sickness and its signs are created as part of an ongoing personal, social, and political narrative; today we face both uncertainty and opportunity in the natural and cultural sciences. She argues that semiotics possesses the language and methodologies to achieve an understanding of the biological/cultural relationship.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp

Gifted Education in Northeast Tennessee Public Schools: A Descriptive Study.

The purpose of this study was to examine gifted education programs in public schools in Northeast Tennessee. There is a wide disparity among established gifted programs regarding the identification of the students, the eligibility of the students, and the services they receive. This disparity has led to varying levels of support and service for gifted children in Northeast Tennessee. A survey was developed and distributed to individuals who oversee the gifted department in their school system. Data were collected regarding gifted student identification processes, individual program requirements, funding of gifted programs, professional development, and advanced teacher training. National research has been directed towards the identification of gifted students and the types of programs that might be optimal for students with high intellectual abilities. This study was a descriptive analysis of the identification process of gifted children and the programs and policies in place in a purposeful sample of the school systems of Northeast Tennessee. This researcher examined various aspects of funding allocation for this special population. There are significant differences in the allocation and use of resources by Tennessee school systems. The researcher also sought to identify the programs that are offered for gifted students. This study revealed that some school systems in Northeast Tennessee do not have established gifted programs. The school systems that do have established gifted programs vary. Some of these schools provided a modified gifted program that included two types of pullout programs. In the first type, students left the regular classroom or were pulled out to go to a separate classroom to receive gifted instruction once a week. In the second type, students were pulled out once every two weeks. Many of the respondents reported they provided differentiated instruction for all students. Of the school systems that had established programs, respondents reported that their schools had written objectives or philosophies for their gifted programs. The reported need for financial support was great. According to the respondents, more funds were needed to support teacher training, hire more personnel (teachers and administrators), purchase materials, and extend programs