A Study Of The Economics Of Soil Conservation Practices Of Fifty Negro Farmers In Jasper County, Texas

For many years, cash crops have been considered the most profitable income of most farmers in Jasper County, as well as other areas in the south. The average of crop yields has declined in these areas for the past thirty years or more, except in the creek bottom fields. Low yields have brought serious questions to some farmers about the returns from cash crops. Recently, some operators have begun to boost their profits from cash crops by using soil building practices. These farmers have recognized what they did not believe was true twenty years or more ago, that fertility of Blackland soils must be aided through the use of fertilizers and legumes in the farming system. Recent emphasis on soil building practices has brought some additional problems to landowners and tenant operators. With increased co3ts of mechanized farming operations and other changes in farming methods and practices, pressure for adjustment has been placed on customary rental arrangements. Variations in sharing the cost of soil-building crops have prompted the need for information on these practices. Farm management specialists have found that recent adoption of fertilizers and soil building practices has played a large part in the uncertainty of landlord-tenant agreements. Within recent years, landlords and tenants have asked their county agent how expenses and returns on soil building practices generally are shared

Surface treatment of an Al2O3-based refractory with CO2 and high power diode lasers for improved mechanical and chemical resistance characteristics

Within both normal and corrosive (NaOH and HNO3) environmental conditions, the wear rate and wear life characteristics of an Al2O3-based refractory were greatly enhanced by means of CO2 and high power diode laser (HPDL) surface treatment. Such improvements are attributed to the fact that after laser treatment, the microstructure of the Al2O3-based refractory was altered from a porous, randomly ordered structure, to a much more dense and consolidated structure that contained fewer cracks and porosities. What is more, resulting from the different rates of solidification brought about by differences in the wavelengths of the two lasers, dissimilar microstructures were subsequently generated. Indeed, despite the fact that the glaze thickness was less, the wear life of the HPDL treated surface exceeded that of the CO2 laser treated surface in all the test environments owing to its finer, more densely packed and less cracked microstructure

CORRELATES OF BLACK PARAMILITARY ACTIVITY: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

One indication of the racial polarization of our society is the rise of black paramilitary organizations. Interviews were conducted with a sample of active members of a black paramilitary organization located in a large Southern city. The young male respondents tended to be alienated, to have records of arrest and imprisonment, and to have served in the armed forces. Yet, they were found to adhere to a Protestant Ethnic and to be fairly representative in terms of economic status. It is suggested that race alone provides the motivation for black paramilitary activities.http://web.ku.edu/~starjrn

How do caregivers know when to take their child for immunizations?

BACKGROUND: Childhood vaccinations help reduce and eliminate many causes of morbidity and mortality among children. The objective of this study was to compare 4:3:1:3:3 (4+ doses of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine, 3+ doses of poliovirus vaccine, 1+ doses of measles-containing vaccine, 3+ doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine, and 3+ doses of hepatitis B vaccine) coverage among children whose caregivers learned by different methods when their child's most recent immunization was needed. METHODS: Between July 2001 and December 2002, a portion of households receiving the National Immunization Survey were asked how they knew when to take the child in for his/her most recent immunization. Responses were post-coded into several categories: 'Doctor/nurse reminder at previous immunization visit', 'Shot card/record', 'Reminder/recall', and 'Other'. Respondents could give more than one answer. Children who did not receive any vaccines, had ≤ 1 visits for vaccinations, or whose caregiver did not provide an answer to the question were excluded from analyses. Chi-square analyses were used to compare 4:3:1:3:3 coverage among 19–35 month old children. RESULTS: Children whose caregivers indicated that a doctor/nurse told them at a previous immunization visit when to return for the next immunization had significantly greater 4:3:1:3:3 coverage than those who did not choose the response (77.2% vs. 70.1%, p < 0.01). However, no significant difference in coverage was found between households that did/did not indicate that reminder/recalls (71.0% vs. 75.5%, p = 0.24) helped them remember when to take their child for their most recent immunization visit; only borderline significance was found between those that did/did not choose shot cards (70.6% vs. 76.2%, p = 0.07). CONCLUSION: A doctor or nurse's reminder during an immunization visit of the next scheduled immunization visit effectively encourages caregivers to bring children in for immunizations, providing an inexpensive and easy way to effectively increase immunization coverage

Removable Matter-Power-Spectrum Covariance from Bias Fluctuations

We find a simple, accurate model for the covariance matrix of the real-space cosmological matter power spectrum on slightly nonlinear scales (k~0.1-0.8 h/Mpc at z=0), where off-diagonal matrix elements become substantial. The model includes a multiplicative, scale-independent modulation of the power spectrum. It has only one parameter, the variance (among realizations) of the variance of the nonlinear density field in cells, with little dependence on the cell size between 2-8 Mpc/h. Furthermore, we find that this extra covariance can be modeled out by instead measuring the power spectrum of (delta/sigma_cell), i.e. the ratio of the overdensity to its dispersion in cells a few Mpc in size. Dividing delta by sigma_cell essentially removes the non-Gaussian part of the covariance matrix, nearly diagonalizing it.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 5 pages, 5 figures; slight clarifications to match accepted versio

Mandatory SARS-CoV-2 Vaccinations in K-12 Schools, Colleges/Universities, and Businesses

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued guidance that fully vaccinated individuals can safely remove masks and end social distancing in most indoor settings. Educational facilities and businesses are faced with whether and how to differentiate between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, including requiring proof of vaccination. Mandatory vaccination has historically served as a tool to reach and sustain high immunization coverage and to prevent transmission in K-12 schools, colleges/universities, and health care facilities. Vaccine mandates could extend to workers and customers in businesses to ensure safer environments. This Viewpoint examines the epidemiologic, public health, and legal considerations for mandatory SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations in each setting

Digital Health Passes in the Age of COVID-19: Are “Vaccine Passports” Lawful and Ethical?

As COVID-19 vaccination rates in high-income countries increase, governments are proposing or implementing digital health passes (DHPs) (vaccine “passports” or “certificates”). Israel uses a “green pass” smartphone application permitting vaccinated individuals’ access to public venues (eg, gyms, hotels, entertainment). The European Union plans a “Digital Green Certificate” enabling free travel within the bloc (see eTable in the Supplement). New York is piloting an IBM “Excelsior Pass,” confirming vaccination or negative SARS-CoV-2 test status through confidential data transfers to fast-track business reopenings. This paper examines the benefits of DHPs, scientific challenges, and whether they are lawful and ethical

Selective Targeting to Glioma with Nucleic Acid Aptamers

Malignant glioma is characterised by a rapid growth rate and high capacity for invasive infiltration to surrounding brain tissue; hence, diagnosis and treatment is difficult and patient survival is poor. Aptamers contribute a promising and unique technology for the in vitro imaging of live cells and tissues, with a potentially bright future in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics for malignant glioma. The binding selectivity, uptake capacity and binding target of two DNA aptamers, SA43 and SA44, were investigated in glioma cells and patient tissues. The binding assay showed that SA43 and SA44 bound with strong affinity (Kd, 21.56 ± 4.60 nM and Kd, 21.11 ± 3.30 nM respectively) to the target U87MG cells. Quantitative analysis by flow cytometry showed that the aptamers were able to actively internalise in U87MG and 1321N1 glioma cells compared to the non-cancerous and non-glioma cell types. Confocal microscopy confirmed staining in the cytoplasm, and co-localisation studies with endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and lysosomal markers suggested internalisation and compartmentalisation within the endomembrane system. Both aptamers selectively bound to Ku 70 and Ku 80 DNA repair proteins as determined by aptoprecipitation (AP) followed by mass spectrometry analysis and confirmation by Western blot. In addition, aptohistochemical (AHC) staining on paraffin embedded, formalin fixed patient tissues revealed that the binding selectivity was significantly higher for SA43 aptamer in glioma tissues (grade I, II, III and IV) compared to the non-cancerous tissues, whereas SA44 did not show selectivity towards glioma tissues. The results indicate that SA43 aptamer can differentiate between glioma and non-cancerous cells and tissues and therefore, shows promise for histological diagnosis of glioma

Aspergillus nidulans ArfB Plays a Role in Endocytosis and Polarized Growth

Filamentous fungi undergo polarized growth throughout most of their life cycles. The Spitzenkörper is an apical organelle composed primarily of vesicles that is unique to filamentous fungi and is likely to act as a vesicle supply center for tip growth. Vesicle assembly and trafficking are therefore important for hyphal growth. ADP ribosylation factors (Arfs), a group of small GTPase proteins, play an important role in nucleating vesicle assembly. Little is known about the role of Arfs in filamentous hyphal growth. We found that Aspergillus nidulans is predicted to encode six Arf family proteins. Analysis of protein sequence alignments suggests that A. nidulans ArfB shares similarity with ARF6 of Homo sapiens and Arf3p of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. An arfB null allele (arfB disrupted by a transposon [arfB::Tn]) was characterized by extended isotropic growth of germinating conidia followed by cell lysis or multiple, random germ tube emergence, consistent with a failure to establish polarity. The mutant germ tubes and hyphae that do form initially meander abnormally off of the axis of polarity and frequently exhibit dichotomous branching at cell apices, consistent with a defect in polarity maintenance. FM4-64 staining of the arfB::Tn strain revealed that another phenotypic characteristic seen for arfB::Tn is a reduction and delay in endocytosis. ArfB is myristoylated at its N terminus. Green fluorescent protein-tagged ArfB (ArfB::GFP) localizes to the plasma membrane and endomembranes and mutation (ArfB(G2A)::GFP) of the N-terminal myristoylation motif disperses the protein to the cytoplasm rather than to the membranes. These results demonstrate that ArfB functions in endocytosis to play important roles in polarity establishment during isotropic growth and polarity maintenance during hyphal extension