THE EFFECTS OF FARMLAND, FARMLAND PRESERVATION AND OTHER NEIGHBORHOOD AMENITIES ON PROXIMATE HOUSING VALUES: RESULTS OF A CONJOINT ANALYSIS OF HOUSING CHOICE

Using stated-preference data from a choice-based conjoint analysis instrument, we estimate willingness to pay for the presence of neighboring land that is dedicated to agricultural use (versus a developed land use) and for the preservation of surrounding farmland as permanent cropland. The data also elucidate how individuals balance the values associated with nearby agricultural land patterns with other key neighborhood characteristics such as neighborhood parks, housing density, commute times, school quality and neighborhood safety. The median respondent from a randomly chosen sample of Columbus, Ohio homeowners was willing to pay $843 annually to avoid immediate conversion of 10 percent of agricultural land within one mile of the house valued in the conjoint experiment while the same respondent was willing to pay$277 annually to preserve the same amount of farmland as permanent cropland. We find provision of neighborhood parks within housing developments to be a strong substitute for farmland preservation.Land Economics/Use,

Lost in Translation? Exploring the journey from press releases to news articles during volcanic crises, and its impact on perceptions

The world in which we communicate has changed rapidly in recent years; information from official bodies can be posted, shared, translated, re-interpreted and disseminated rapidly via online news outlets and social media. The increased use of the internet means that science communication can be spread more than ever, from online news to press releases being shared on social media. The modern drive of the press industry can cause news about events to be sensationalised to create interesting stories, therefore potentially impacting the public perceptions of a volcanic crisis. This study aims to better understand how the ‘translation’ of press releases by the mainstream media impacts the behaviours and perceptions of the global community during a volcanic crisis. Here we show that translation from press releases to news articles is not always linear and different media companies translate press releases differently. This therefore impacts public perceptions of volcanic events as the news articles do not always portray the events accurately and the public’s perceptions can be impacted by many extraneous factors. It is thought that this research will be the starting point into more research into press release translation and that the results of this study can show the true impact of sensationalist language within the press industry

Lost in translation? Theory, policy and practice in systems-based environmental approaches to obesity prevention in the Healthy Towns programme in England.

This paper explores how system-wide approaches to obesity prevention were 'theorised' and translated into practice in the 'Healthy Towns' programme implemented in nine areas in England. Semi-structured interviews with 20 informants, purposively selected to represent national and local programme development, management and delivery were undertaken. Results suggest that informants articulated a theoretical understanding of a system-wide approach to obesity prevention, but simplifying this complex task in the context of uncertainty over programme aims and objectives, and absence of a clear direction from the central government, resulted in local programmes relying on traditional multi-component approaches to programme delivery. The development of clear, practical guidance on implementation should form a central part of future system-wide approaches to obesity prevention

Markers for Characterization of Bone Marrow Multipotential Stromal Cells

Given the observed efficacy of culture-expanded multipotential stromal cells, also termed mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), in the treatment of graft-versus host and cardiac disease, it remains surprising that purity and potency characterization of manufactured cell batches remains rather basic. In this paper, we will initially discuss surface and molecular markers that were proposed to serve as the indicators of the MSC potency, in terms of their proliferative potential or the ability to differentiate into desired lineages. The second part of this paper will be dedicated to a critical discussion of surface markers of uncultured (i.e., native) bone marrow (BM) MSCs. Although no formal consensus has yet been reached on which markers may be best suited for prospective BM MSC isolation, markers that cross-react with MSCs of animal models (such as CD271 and W8-B2/MSCA-1) may have the strongest translational value. Whereas small animal models are needed to discover the in vivo function on these markers, large animal models are required for safety and efficacy testing of isolated MSCs, particularly in the field of bone and cartilage tissue engineering

Everyone\u27s Invited: A Website Usability Study Involving Multiple Library Stakeholders

This article describes a usability study of the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries website conducted in early 2016. The study involved six participants from each of four key user groups— undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and library employees—and consisted of six typical library search tasks, such as finding a book and an article on a topic, locating a journal by title, and looking up hours of operation. Library employees and graduate students completed the study’s tasks most successfully, whereas undergraduate students performed relatively simple searches and relied on the Libraries’ discovery tool, Primo. The study’s results displayed several problematic features that affected each user group, including library employees. These results increased internal buy-in for usability-related changes to the library website in a later redesign

Keys to academic success for under-represented minority young investigators: recommendations from the Research in Academic Pediatrics Initiative on Diversity (RAPID) National Advisory Committee.

BackgroundAlthough Latinos, African-Americans, and American Indians/Alaska Natives comprise 34% of Americans, these under-represented minorities (URMs) account for only 7% of US medical-school faculty. Even when URMs become faculty, they face many substantial challenges to success. Little has been published, however, on keys to academic success for URM young faculty investigators.MethodsThe Research in Academic Pediatrics Initiative on Diversity (RAPID) goal is to enhance the professional advancement of URM junior faculty pursuing research careers in general academic pediatrics. One important RAPID component is the annual mentoring/career-development conference, which targets URM residents, fellows, and junior faculty, and has included 62 URM participants since its 2013 inception. A conference highlight is the panel discussion on keys to academic success for URM young investigators, conducted by the RAPID National Advisory Committee, a diverse group of leading senior researchers. The article aim was to provide a guide to academic success for URM young investigators using the 2018 RAPID Conference panel discussion. A modified Delphi technique was used to provide a systematic approach to obtaining answers to six key questions using an expert panel: the single most important key to success for URM young investigators; ensuring optimal mentorship; how to respond when patients/families say, "I don't want you to see my child because you are ____"; best strategies for maximizing funding success; how to balance serving on time-consuming committees with enough time to advance research/career objectives; and the single thing you wish someone had told you which would have substantially enhanced your success early on.Results/conclusionsThis is the first published practical guide on keys to academic success for URM young investigators. Identified keys to success included having multiple mentors, writing prolifically, being tenaciously persistent, having mentors who are invested in you, dealing with families who do not want you to care for their child because of your race/ethnicity by seeking to understand the reasons and debriefing with colleagues, seeking non-traditional funding streams, balancing committee work with having enough time to advance one's research and career by using these opportunities to generate scholarly products, and asking for all needed resources when negotiating for new jobs

Design, fabrication and test of integrated micro-scale vibration based electromagnetic generator

This paper discusses the design, fabrication and testing of electromagnetic microgenerators. Three different designs of power generators are partially microfabricated and assembled. Prototype A having a wire-wound copper coil, Prototype B, an electrodeposited copper coil both on a Deep Reactive Ion etched (DRIE) silicon, beam and paddle. Prototype C uses moving NdFeB magnets in between two microfabricated coils. The integrated coil, paddle and beam were fabricated using standard micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) processing techniques. For Prototype A, the maximum measured power output was 148 nW at 8.08 kHz resonant frequency and 3.9 m/s2 acceleration. For prototype B, the microgenerator gave a maximum load power of 23 nW for an acceleration of 9.8 m/s2, at a resonant frequency of 9.83 kHz. This is a substantial improvement in power generated over other microfabricated silicon based generators reported in literature. This generator has a volume of 0.1 cm3 which is lowest of all the silicon based microfabricated electromagnetic power generators reported. To verify the potential of integrated coils in electromagnetic generators, Prototype C was assembled. This generated a maximum load power of 5

Protection Conferred by a Live Avian Metapneumovirus Vaccine when Co-Administered with Live La Sota Newcastle Disease Vaccine in Chicks

This paper examines the effects on specific pathogen-free (SPF) chicks when avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV) La Sota strain vaccines are co-administered. Day-old SPF chicks were divided into five groups. The first group was inoculated with sterile water (SW) and the rest of the groups were inoculated with live NDV vaccine VG/GA by the oculo-oral route. At 21 days-old, the unvaccinated chicks were again inoculated with SW. The four VG/GA-vaccinated groups were further inoculated with (i) SW, (ii) live aMPV vaccine, (iii) live NDV La Sota, or (iv) combined live NDV La Sota and live aMPV, respectively. Chicks were monitored for post-vaccination reactions and oropharyngeal swabs were collected for vaccines detection. Blood samples were collected to detect aMPV ELISA and NDV haemagglutination-inhibition antibodies. Twenty-one days following the second vaccination, six chicks from each group were challenged with virulent NDV or aMPV respectively. Chicks were monitored for clinical signs and mortality and oropharyngeal swabs collected for aMPV detection. Results showed that, when challenged with a virulent aMPV, both chicks previously vaccinated with VG/GA and subsequently given aMPV vaccine singly or in combination with La Sota were equally protected against clinical signs. Chicks that were vaccinated against NDV either once with VG/GA or followed by La Sota (singly or in combination with aMPV) were fully protected when challenged with velogenic NDV. We concluded that simultaneous administration of live aMPV and NDV La Sota vaccines have no adverse effects on protection conferred by either live vaccine