Syndicating Agriculture News With RSS

Rich Site Summary, also known as Really Simple Syndication (RSS), is a technology used to distribute news and information from a Web site. RSS is a particularly useful tool for news organizations since these syndication feeds automatically notify the end-user that fresh information has been posted to a Web site, and it also avoids the use of e-mail. This innovation can be an effective way to distribute news releases and breaking news items. Instead of clicking on a Web site to see if fresh content has been posted, individuals that have news reader software programs running on their desktop computers receive the information as soon as it is posted to the Web. Texas A&M Agricultural Communications, an early adopter of RSS, began implementing an RSS feed in September 2003 and received national attention for this innovation in the February 2004 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Since implementing an RSS feed on the http://agnews.tamu.edu Web site, more than 1,500 additional hits have been recorded each month. The new technology also has been discovered by journalists, who are finding RSS a much faster method of receiving news and story ideas

Blogging Agricultural News: A New Technology to Distribute News Real-Time

Web logging–or blogging–is gaining popularity on the Internet. Much like online diaries, blogs are short-text entries posted to a Web site in reverse chronological order. Writers can also include digital photos, audio, and video on their blogs. That popularity has not gone unnoticed. Several national publications including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have adopted blogs on their news Web sites. The main attraction of blogs is their immediacy–readers do not have to wait for the morning newspaper or the news on the hour. As soon as news breaks, the information can be posted to the blog. Having studied this technology’s growing popularity, communications specialists at Texas A&M University Agricultural Communications decided to experiment with blogging. The 2004 Beef Cattle Short Course at Texas A&M in August 2004 presented the perfect opportunity to try Web logging and to gauge interest from journalists and nonmedia consumers. The three-day short course annually draws more than 1,000 ranchers to Texas A&M to hear presentations about developments in cattle research, technology and equipment. In the past, the volume of presentations and information at the short course limited the number of timely news stories generated and distributed from the event. The blog was used to gauge the amount of news generated by the two communications specialists assigned to cover the event and to see if it would attract journalists and nonmedia consumers. The experiment included laptop computers and wireless Internet access. Select journalists were asked to participate in the experiment. They were asked to view the blog and offer feedback. A site meter also kept statistics on the number of visits to the blog

System for the measurement of ultra-low stray light levels

An apparatus is described for measuring the effectiveness of stray light suppression light shields and baffle arrangements used in optical space experiments and large space telescopes. The light shield and baffle arrangement and a telescope model are contained in a vacuum chamber. A source of short, high-powered light energy illuminates portions of the light shield and baffle arrangement and reflects a portion of same to a photomultiplier tube by virtue of multipath scattering. The resulting signal is transferred to time-channel electronics timed by the firing of the high energy light source allowing time discrimination of the signal thereby enabling the light scattered and suppressed by the model to be distinguished from the walls and holders around the apparatus

Orchestrating Volunteer Orientation: Introducing the O.B.O.E. Model

Volunteers generally come to their new role with varying levels of knowledge about the organization. An effective orientation program introduces the volunteers to the organization as a whole and to their specific job responsibilities. Orientation can be beneficial in assuring that volunteers have accurate information regarding the organization\u27s purpose, programs, policies, and expectations. The volunteer orientation model (O.B.O.E.) can be adapted to fit any Extension program or non-profit volunteer organization. Divided into four main topics, the orientation program is easily presented in a 90-minute session. Orientation topics of the O.B.O.E. model include: an Opening, Background, Organizational safeguards, and Evaluation

Magnetization of rotating ferrofluids: the effect of polydispersity

The influence of polydispersity on the magnetization is analyzed in a nonequilibrium situation where a cylindrical ferrofluid column is enforced to rotate with constant frequency like a rigid body in a homogeneous magnetic field that is applied perpendicular to the cylinder axis. Then, the magnetization and the internal magnetic field are not longer parallel to each other and their directions differ from that of the applied magnetic field. Experimental results on the transverse magnetization component perpendicular to the applied field are compared and analyzed as functions of rotation frequency and field strength with different polydisperse Debye models that take into account the polydispersity in different ways and to a varying degree.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Journal of Physics

Volunteer Recruitment Packets: Tools for Expanding Volunteer Involvement

Extension agents must become proficient volunteer recruiters. The 2003 Kentucky Volunteer Administration Academy developed a volunteer recruitment packet as a tool to be used by Extension professionals, staff, and volunteers. The recruitment packet includes major components that introduce Extension to potential volunteers. Thirteen customized volunteer recruitment packets were developed based upon programmatic need and request frequency. Additional packets can be developed based upon the needs of the program and volunteers. Recruitment packets have been distributed and used in a variety of ways that extend recruitment and marketing efforts to volunteers who are engaged and supervised by the agent

ATS-6 attenuation diversity measurements at 20 and 30 GHz

The results of data obtained at The University of Texas at Austin in conjunction with the ATS-6 millimeter wave experiment are presented. Attenuation measurements at 30 GHz and sky noise data at 20 GHz were obtained simultaneously at each of two sites separated by 11 km. Space diversity reduces outage time for a system in Austin, Texas with a 10 dB fade margin at 30 GHz from 15 hours to 16 minutes per year. The maximum cloud height shows a good correlation to the maximum attenuations measured

Hair of the Dog: Obtaining Samples From Coyotes and Wolves Noninvasively

Canids can be difficult to detect and their populations difficult to monitor. We tested whether hair samples could be collected from coyotes (Canis latrans) in Texas, USA and gray wolves (C. lupus) in Montana, USA using lure to elicit rubbing behavior at both man-made and natural collection devices. We usedmitochondrial and nuclearDNA to determine whether collected hair samples were from coyote, wolf, or nontarget species. Both coyotes and wolves rubbed on man-made barbed surfaces but coyotes in Texas seldom rubbed on hanging barbed surfaces. Wolves in Montana showed a tendency to rub at stations where natural material collection devices (sticks and debris) were present. Time to detection was relatively short (5 nights and 4 nights for coyotes and wolves, respectively) with nontarget and unknown species comprising approximately 26% of the detections in both locations. Eliciting rubbing behavior from coyotes and wolves using lures has advantages over opportunistic genetic sampling methods (e.g., scat transects) because it elicits a behavior that deposits a hair sample at a fixed sampling location, thereby increasing the efficiency of sampling for these canids. Hair samples from rub stations could be used to provide estimates of abundance, measures of genetic diversity and health, and detection–nondetection data useful for cost-effective population monitoring