Massachusetts Community Colleges: The Potential for Improving College Attainment

Provides an overview of the state's community colleges, examines promising strategies to improve graduation rates among different demographics, and suggests new practices for community colleges, for collaboration among institutions, and for state policy

Feed interventions and skatole deposition

Skatole produced in the large intestine of the pig and the testicular steroid androstenone are the main substances contributing to boar tainted meat from entire male pigs. Boar taint decreases the quality of the meat and is not accepted by consumers. Until now boar taint has been avoided by castrating male pigs. Surgical castration reduces lean meat percentage, growth rate and feed efficiency, and it causes pain to the animal. This constitutes a problem in relation to productivity and welfare. Different attempts on avoiding surgical castration were either not fully effective, not accepted by the market, or they have a long time horizon for implementation. However, when focusing on the effect of feed interventions on boar taint, previous studies have showed a reducing effect through reduced skatole production in the large intestine after a one week application period. Skatole is produced from the microbial fermentation of L-tryptophan in the large intestine. In the literature it is well documented that skatole production in the large intestine is positively correlated with skatole deposition in adipose tissue. Moreover skatole production can be decreased by adding non-digestible and easy fermentable carbohydrates to the feed. However, little is known about skatole producing bacteria from the large intestine of pigs, and how these bacteria can be affected. This thesis reviews skatole production and metabolism in the pig, and how skatole production can be reduced by affecting the microbial production of skatole in the large intestine. A skatole producing bacterium SK9 K4 was isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of pigs. No such bacterium has previously been described. The bacterium was characterised by 16S RNA sequencing, gram stain, analysis of DNA G-C content, cellular fatty acids composition and DNA hybridisation with closely related bacteria. The fermentation of different carbohydrate sources, the growth pattern, the production of organic acids and the skatole production were studied in vitro. The production of skatole in the large intestine was correlated with skatole deposition in adipose tissue. Skatole production could be reduced when adding a minimum of 20 % raw potato starch or 9 % inulin to the feed. The problem concerning deposition of skatole in adipose tissue seems to be solved through the introduction of feed interventions. However high concentrations of androstenone deposited in adipose tissue remains a challenge. Thus, the feed interventions were not fully effective against boar taint. SK9 K4 was described as cells being strictly anaerobic, occurred singly or in pairs and were gram positive. It was identical with an Olsenella sp. strain isolated from the rumen, an uncultured Olsenella sp. clone isolated from sludge and an uncultured bacterium colon isolated from the oral cavity. Moreover SK9 K4 was closely related to Olsenella uli, Olsenella profusa, Olsenella umbonata and Atopobium parvulum. SK9 K4 and O. uli produced skatole from idole-3-acetic acid but not from L-tryptophan. The major fermentation products were lactic acid together with acetic acid and formic acid. SK9 K4 was not able to ferment raw potato starch, inulin and raw corn starch. Thus, when feeding resistant starch or inulin, the growth of skatole producing bacteria might be reduced followed by a reduced ability to produce skatole. The characterisation of a skatole producing bacterium isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of pigs gives the opportunity to further study the bacterium in vivo. Studies should be conducted to investigate the effect of a control diet compared to a diet added a non-digestible and easy fermentable carbohydrate on the growth of SK9 K4 in the large intestine of the pig

Electron Transport through Nanosystems Driven by Coulomb Scattering

Electron transmission through nanosystems is blocked if there are no states connecting the left and the right reservoir. Electron-electron scattering can lift this blockade and we show that this feature can be conveniently implemented by considering a transport model based on many-particle states. We discuss typical signatures of this phenomena, such as the presence of a current signal for a finite bias window.Comment: final version, to appear in Physical Beview B (6 pages and 6 figures included in text, simulation details added and discussion clarified in comparison to first version

Corporate Entrepreneurship: An Empirical Study of the Importance of Strategic Considerations in the Creation of Radical Innovation

The recognition of the importance of entrepreneurial dynamics in corporate context is increasingly acknowledged in both entrepreneurship and strategic management literature, as firms today face a reality in which frame-breaking innovation is an important element of survival. From this understanding, the concept of Strategic Entrepreneurship (SE) has arisen, arguing a logic of focusing on the intersections between the two fields. This paper sets out to explore the SE construct empirically. Through seven case studies evolving around radical technological innovations, evidence is found of the importance of incorporation of strategic considerations taking place at several different levels of the organization, in order to obtain a desirable balance between entrepreneurial and strategic forces. An Integrative Model of Strategic Entrepreneurship is suggested based on this evidence.strategic entrepreneurship, radical innovation, case studies

Ethnic Divisions and the Size of the Informal Sector.

This paper investigates the relationship between ethnic fragmentation and the size of the informal economy. Recent experimental and empirical research links, in turn, ethnicity and trust, and trust and tax compliance. In addition, recent empirical studies have identified an unwillingness to contribute to public goods benefiting other ethnic groups. Combining these insights, we argue that increasing ethnic fractionalization decreases voluntary tax compliance, and present empirical evidence at the macro level in a cross-section of more than fifty countries, that more ethnically fragmented societies have significantly larger informal sectors.informal sector; ethnic fragmentation; voluntary tax compliance

‘Plumb line scribe’: using multimedia to preserve traditional craft skills

The skills required in craft practice involve a high degree of tacit knowledge which is frequently difficult for the craft expert to articulate. N. Wood, a multimedia designer, has undertaken extensive research over the last ten years seeking to understand the knowledge of skilled craftsmen and find methods of capturing and passing it on. She has developed an elicitation strategy that employs an expert learner to uncover the skilled knowledge of master craftsmen, and a transmission strategy based on the concept of bridges to assist the design of learning resources for novices. U. H. Lassen has used the techniques developed by Wood to record and transmit the skilled knowledge needed to make timber-framed buildings, knowledge that today is in danger of being lost. The focus of the study has been the procedure for scribing timbers, which is a central part of the building process. The aim of the research was to investigate the possibility of combining the two roles defined in Wood’s research as an expert learner and designer. Being a skilled carpenter, Lassen has acted as an expert learner, learning the skills of scribing through a combination of researching existing documentation, working with master craftsmen and his own experimentation. At the same time, he developed and tested a multimedia learning resource to provide ‘bridges’ for new learners to this knowledge. The outcome of the application of Wood’s elicitation and transmission strategy to plumb line scribing is a demonstration of the transferability of Wood’s methods within this new context. This is important because it reveals the potential for other craft practitioners to apply Wood’s methods to their own learning and teaching, and produce learning resources to provide bridges to their craft knowledge and preserve their unique skills

Political Accountability and the Size of Government: Theory and Cross-Country Evidence.

This paper explores the effect of political accountability on the size of the public sector in a principal-agent model of democratic government. Political accountability is the degree to which the electorate can control politicians through elections, and emphasis is put on the roles of transparency and political contestability. Increasing transparency and political contestability increases the control of politicians, which makes public goods provision more attractive to voters, increasing the size of government. The prediction of the model is strongly supported by robust empirical evidence from a cross section of 62 democratic countries in 1995.

Spacecraft attitude determination by fanscan technique

To determine orientation, or attitude, of spacecraft in flight relative to data-receiving antenna on earth use fanbeam antenna which is offset in angle from spin axis of spacecraft and provides fan-like radiation pattern

Healthy food is nutritious, but organic food is healthy because it is pure: The negotiation of healthy food choices by Danish consumers of organic food.

There is increasing demand for organic food products throughout the Western world. Health concerns have frequently been found to be the main motivation of consumers purchasing organic products, but the literature on consumer preferences and behavior is less clear about what ‘health’ means to consumers of these products, and because of this it remains unclear what exactly drives consumers to choose organic products. This article investigates health from the perspective of consumers, and analyzes negotiations of, and justifications behind, their consumption preferences. The analysis is based on a focus group study conducted in Denmark in 2016. Three different understandings of health can be found when consumers explain their preferences for organic products: Health as purity; Health as pleasure, and a Holistic perspective on health. The first two are familiar from the literature on food. The third, which reflects principles behind organic agriculture, is less documented in the context of consumption. Health as purity was the dominant understanding of health used by the participants when explaining why they purchased organic food products. When participants discussed healthy eating in general, detached from a specific context, most employed a purely nutritional perspective as a definitive argument in supporting claims about healthy eating. The paper’s findings have implications for future research on organic consumption. They also have practical implications for organic food producers and manufacturers

Continuous Variable Entanglement and Squeezing of Orbital Angular Momentum States

We report the first experimental characterization of the first-order continuous variable orbital angular momentum states. Using a spatially non-degenerate optical parametric oscillator (OPO) we produce quadrature entanglement between the two first-order Laguerre-Gauss modes. The family of OAM modes is mapped on an orbital Poincare sphere, and the modes position on the sphere is spanned by the three orbital parameters. Using the non-degenerate OPO we produce squeezing of these parameters, and as an illustration, we reconstruct the "cigar-shaped" uncertainty volume on the orbital Poincare sphere.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure