Evaluation and Perceived Impacts of the North-Central Region SARE Grants, 1988-2002

Evaluation of government-funded programs is essential to identify ways in which initial funding makes an impact and programs can improve. The purpose of this study was to understand the value of the North Central Region\u27s Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education (SARE) grants operated through the United States Department of Agriculture, from their inception through 2002. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, impacts were explored from the perspective of former grant recipients. Survey data were collected from 171 former SARE and 33 interviews conducted with grant recipients who represented three different grant families --researchers, producers and educators. Descriptive, comparative, and exploratory analyses were conducted to: (1) evaluate the cascade social, economic and environmental impacts of SARE funding, from inception through 2002; (2) explore ways in which the SARE experience influenced the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of past grant recipients; (3) understand participants\u27 perception of a successful SARE project; (4) provide recommendations for strengthening the SARE program and processes; and (5) compare responses between groups. Quantitative results indicated moderate impacts; however, interviews revealed considerable support for the program and offered specific examples of long-term impacts directly attributable to earlier SARE-funded projects. Producers were significantly more in favor of supporting niche production research, more satisfied with two-year project length, and rated the value of the final SARE reports significantly higher than the other two groups. Partial results from the study are presented in this article. Study limitations, implications of results, and suggestions for expanding program participation are discussed

An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human genome

The human genome encodes the blueprint of life, but the function of the vast majority of its nearly three billion bases is unknown. The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project has systematically mapped regions of transcription, transcription factor association, chromatin structure and histone modification. These data enabled us to assign biochemical functions for 80% of the genome, in particular outside of the well-studied protein-coding regions. Many discovered candidate regulatory elements are physically associated with one another and with expressed genes, providing new insights into the mechanisms of gene regulation. The newly identified elements also show a statistical correspondence to sequence variants linked to human disease, and can thereby guide interpretation of this variation. Overall, the project provides new insights into the organization and regulation of our genes and genome, and is an expansive resource of functional annotations for biomedical research

Motivation as an antecedent to positive environmental behaviors of agricultural leaders

This dissertation provides an overview of motivation in the field of environmental leadership and sustainable agriculture. The dissertation is organized into four sections: (1) an extensive literature review that represents the breadth of literature that informed this work; (2) four self-contained manuscripts that address a specific aspect of this study; (3) an executive summary; (4) an appendix containing permission and recruitment documents common to the entire body of work. The first manuscript, Motivation Theory and Motivation Research in Sustainable Agriculture, provides an overview of motivation theory, a review of the motivation research that has been conducted in sustainable agriculture, examples of social science tools available to measure motivation, and excerpts from qualitative interviews in which professional agriculturalists discuss their personal motivations. Comparing Motivation Sources in Two Agricultural Populations reports results from a study that measured and compared motivation between Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)-funded and non-funded professional agriculturalists. Decision-maker perceptions are explored in context of evaluation theory in Evaluation and Perceived Impacts of the North-Central Region SARE Grants, 1988–2002. The final manuscript, Testing a Motivation-based Framework for Predicting Positive Environmental Behaviors of Environmental Leaders, presents, proposes, and tests a motivation framework for predicting positive environmental behaviors (PEBs) of agricultural business owners. In this framework, motivation is posited as the predicting variable, with social power, openness, and resistance offered as moderating variables. Results revealed that goal internalization motivation, openness to new ideas, low resistance to PEBs, and fewer years in the business explain 30 percent of the variance for predicting PEBs in this agricultural population. This work informs the environmental leadership field, challenges results of earlier studies, and challenges educators to recognize their role in developing business leaders committed to the natural environment. The dissertation concludes with an executive summary, which discusses the value of the collective works related to the fields of environmental leadership and sustainable agriculture research and practice. Opportunities for future research and implications for application are included

IDENTIFYING SOURCES OF MOTIVATION OF ADULT RURAL WORKERS

A meta-theory of motivation is described and used to establish norms among farm cooperative employees and managers in Nebraska. One hundred eighty six farm cooperative employees and managers were administered the Motivation Sources Inventory (MSI) and the five sources of work motivation–intrinsic process, instrumental, self-concept external, self-concept internal, and goal internalization– were examined. Results demonstrate a high proportion of self-concept internal work motivation among rural workers. The other four sources were evenly distributed across the sample population. This baseline study implies that employers, supervisors and educators may engage the interest and involvement of rural workers most effectively when they incorporate influence attempts that appeal to workers’ internally derived standards and sense of the ideal self. Limitations and further implications for education, practice and future research are discussed

Control of poultry coccidiosis: changing trends

Coccidiosis is the most important protozoan disease affecting the poultry industry worldwide. Control of poultry coccidiosis is presently based on managerial skills and the use of prophylactic coccidiostatic drugs. With the emergence of drug resistant Eimeria strains, emphasis has been laid on development and use of safer vaccines; some of them have been commercialized successfully. The present review deals with the various factors responsible for the development of clinical coccidiosis in poultry as well as an overview of the currently available inducers and boosters of immunity against coccidiosis. There are three groups of vaccines currently available against coccidiosis which can be distinguished on the basis of characteristics of the Eimeria species included in the respective products, viz. vaccines based on live virulent strains, vaccines based on live attenuated strains, and vaccines based on live strains that are relatively tolerant to the ionophore compounds. The latter vaccine combines the early chemotherapeutic effect of ionophores with the late prophylactic effect of vaccination. Although in the near future more varieties of oocyst based live vaccines are expected, identification of selective coccidian-specific immunoprotective molecules is likely to get more attention to facilitate the sustainable control of poultry coccidiosis

Perspectives on ENCODE

The Encylopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project launched in 2003 with the long-term goal of developing a comprehensive map of functional elements in the human genome. These included genes, biochemical regions associated with gene regulation (for example, transcription factor binding sites, open chromatin, and histone marks) and transcript isoforms. The marks serve as sites for candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) that may serve functional roles in regulating gene expression1. The project has been extended to model organisms, particularly the mouse. In the third phase of ENCODE, nearly a million and more than 300,000 cCRE annotations have been generated for human and mouse, respectively, and these have provided a valuable resource for the scientific community.11Nsciescopu

Expanded encyclopaedias of DNA elements in the human and mouse genomes

AbstractThe human and mouse genomes contain instructions that specify RNAs and proteins and govern the timing, magnitude, and cellular context of their production. To better delineate these elements, phase III of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project has expanded analysis of the cell and tissue repertoires of RNA transcription, chromatin structure and modification, DNA methylation, chromatin looping, and occupancy by transcription factors and RNA-binding proteins. Here we summarize these efforts, which have produced 5,992 new experimental datasets, including systematic determinations across mouse fetal development. All data are available through the ENCODE data portal (https://www.encodeproject.org), including phase II ENCODE1 and Roadmap Epigenomics2 data. We have developed a registry of 926,535 human and 339,815 mouse candidate cis-regulatory elements, covering 7.9 and 3.4% of their respective genomes, by integrating selected datatypes associated with gene regulation, and constructed a web-based server (SCREEN; http://screen.encodeproject.org) to provide flexible, user-defined access to this resource. Collectively, the ENCODE data and registry provide an expansive resource for the scientific community to build a better understanding of the organization and function of the human and mouse genomes.11Nsciescopu