The Influence of Market and Agricultural Policy Signals on the Level of Organic Farming

Over the last two decades, organic farming has been one of the few sectors of agriculture to increase exponentially across the world. This paper aims to analyse the relationship of market and agricultural policy signals on the share of organic farming, with a cross-country analysis in two key years (1990 and 2001). Evidence is provided on the importance of public organic agricultural support, organic farming research and development, the availability of marketing and sales outlets for organic produce and countries environmental regulations in positively driving the adoption of organic agriculture by farmers. There seems to be more support for the influence of agricultural policy signals than market signals.organic farming, agricultural policy signals, market signals, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Marketing, Q10, Q16, Q18,

Microglia Activity in the Mouse Brain Lacking Prostaglandin E2-Connection to Autism

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is a signaling molecule produced by cyclooxygenase2 (COX-2) that is important for brain development and microglial activation. Abnormal COX2/PGE2 signaling has been linked to Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). We aim to determine the impact of abnormal signaling of the COX-2/PGE2 pathway on microglial density and morphology in the developing brain of COX-2-KI mice. Using immunohistochemistry, we show at embryonic day 19 (E19) and postnatal day 25 (P25) COX-2-KI mice had sex and regional specific differences in microglial density, activation state, branch length, and branching networks. We show for the first time that these trajectories were influenced not only by the COX-2 deficiency, but also by sex, brain region, and developmental stage. These novel findings provide additional evidence that abnormal COX-2/PGE2 signaling can result in a disruption of microglial density and morphology during development and contribute to brain pathologies that result in ASDs

Shikata Ga Nai: The Racialisation and Systematic Targeting of Los Angeles' Japanese Population Prior to Pearl Harbor

No abstract provided

Speakeasy

I arrived at this particular design conclusion through a school project involving fabric manipulation and monochrome. After several trials with woven materials, I was strongly lead (by frustration as well as curiosity) to abandon that path and experiment with incorporating a spandex material. After several samples of different manipulations, I arrived at the fringe and the bands

Embodied Control: Biopolitics in the Water Crisis of Flint, MI and Appalachian Coal

Flint, Michigan still doesn\u27t have clean water or safe pipes. On the border between West Virginia and Pennsylvania, a coal ash pond called Little Blue Run has been leaking toxic metals into nearby streams for four decades (Patterson, 2018). While these two regions differ in their location and history, similarities can be contextualized and understood based on class, race, state sanctioned water contamination, the exploitation of natural resources, and environmental crimes. Given the factors at work when water crises occur, it is crucial to recognize the United States\u27 practice of knowingly poisoning their citizens, to draw parallels between the practice of state powers explicitly prioritizing industries and profit over the health of citizens under their jurisdiction, and to recognize it as a piece of how racialized biopolitics are put into practice. The locations where this abuse of state control generally occurs, in an increasingly militarized and authoritarian manner, are the regions populated with higher percentages of people of color. In addition to the direct negative health effects of toxic water contaminants, these cases are indicators of how biopolitical control can be traced back to larger constructions of structural violence against state subjects. ot only do contaminants in the water (lead, trilomethanes, selenium, etc.) directly cause health problems, but constant systemic strife increases allostatic stress, as well as an unparalleled spike in what are referred to as deaths of despair (Lofton, 2018). All of these harms are facilitated by levels of continuous violence and obfuscation from direct blame, so it is urgent and necessary to name them and draw lines between them as a product of biopolitical control. The construction of the Flint water crisis, as well as the ongoing environmental degradation in the Appalachian region, are both instances of the state enacting a form of biopolitics onto the people living in those places. Although environmental justice experts and critical legal theorists have engaged with potential avenues for finding state-based solutions for a state problem (not to dismiss the activist work that has laid the groundwork for understanding the reach of the e issues), it could be argued that true justice and reconciliation cannot be fully achieved under the same structure of power that initially caused the harms

Fifth Element

This 2-piece eveningwear look was created for a design challenge involving Space and Form. The goal was to engage the negative space around the body while considering silhouette in three dimensions, and to conceive a creative design in monochrome

Ways to Increase Retention Rates Among American Indian/Alaskan Native Students at Community Colleges

American Indians/Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) pursue higher education disproportionately compared to other populations. Literature indicates that a sense of belonging significantly impacts AI/AN students\u27 persistence rates at community colleges. Sense of belonging and support from community colleges and families directly influence student success in higher education. AI/AN students are grounded in their community and have desires to build their cultural capital. Obtaining a degree will strengthen their community and, ultimately, their nation. It is essential for AI/AN students and parents to feel equipped with resources and ways community colleges support marginalized students. Creating a student and parent orientation, access to a family education specialist, and attending AI/AN social programming contribute to student empowerment and persistence. The program will provide resources for students\u27 academic, cultural, and spiritual well-being

Gastrointestinal microbial diversity and diagenetic alteration of bone from the American alligator (\u3ci\u3eAlligator mississippiensis\u3c/i\u3e)

One of the most challenging questions in paleobiology is how bone transforms from a living tissue into a fossil. In life, the gastrointestinal tract microbiome of an animal promotes host health. But, in death, these microbial communities, as well as soil communities, begin to degrade tissue, including bones. Using the American alligator from coastal wetland habitats as a model system, the gastrointestinal tract microbiome was found to contain microbial communities consisting of Fusobacteria, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes, with variations based on tissue type along the length of the digestive tract. The overall dominance of Fusobacteria is distinct from any other tetrapod studied to date and is suggestive of a retained ancestral condition that may be controlled by conservative host morphology, behavior, and niche occupation. Alligators are crown archosaurs that have occupied similar wetland habitats since their divergence in the Late Triassic, with an accompanying crocodylian fossil record that is replete with bones preserved in wetland environments. Following alligator death, structural and chemical changes to alligator bone, including transformations into more thermodynamically stable mineral phases, occur within days to weeks when bone is exposed to indigenous soil and water microbial communities, as well as from abiotic processes controlled by habitat geochemistry. Direct exposure to indigenous microbial communities slows alteration, which may be critical for stability of bone over geologic time. Despite different compositional chemistries, experimentally treated and fossil bones of varying ages converge on a common mineral lattice arrangement at the atomic-level that may facilitate bone preservation