The Ill Effects of Mid - 1980s Tax Policy on Higher Education

This article will focus on the provisions of the 1984 and 1986 Acts that most directly affect higher education in an adverse way. While tax legislation in the early 1980s left higher education relatively unscathed, these two acts of the mid- 1980s had major detrimental effects on higher education. This article will catalog and assess the impact on higher education of several tax law provisions enacted in the mid-1980s. It is the thesis of this article that the individual pieces of legislation are a de facto (and probably unwitting) educational policy that adversely affects higher education. This article will not rehash all of the arguments for or against providing tax incentives for higher education. These have been amply analyzed in prior literature. There appears to be a general social consensus that higher education should be encouraged and that the tax system should not discourage it. Tax incentives for higher education have a long and venerable history. It is an abrupt change from prior practice, therefore, for tax policy to take a turn in precisely the opposite direction

Measuring Motivation and Reward-Related Decision Making in the Rodent Operant Touchscreen System.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/0471142301.ns0834s74This unit is designed to facilitate implementation of the fixed and progressive ratio paradigms and the effort-related choice task in the rodent touchscreen apparatus to permit direct measurement of motivation and reward-related decision making in this equipment. These protocols have been optimized for use in the mouse and reliably yield stable performance levels that can be enhanced or suppressed by systemic pharmacological manipulation. Instructions are also provided for the adjustment of task parameters to permit use in mouse models of neurodegenerative disease. These tasks expand the utility of the rodent touchscreen apparatus beyond the currently available battery of cognitive assessment paradigms.The protocols presented in this Unit were developed and optimized as part of a research program funded by Wellcome Trust grant 089703/Z/09/Z awarded to TJB and LMS. TJB and LMS also received funding from the Innovative Medicine Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement n° 115008 of which resources are composed of EFPIA in-kind contribution and financial contribution from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013). TJB and LMS consult for Campden Instruments Ltd

Impact of Row Spacing, Sowing Density and Nitrogen Fertilization on Yield and Quality Traits of Chia (\u3cem\u3eSalvia Hispanica\u3c/em\u3e L.) Cultivated in Southwestern Germany

To obtain high chia seed yields and seed qualities, a suitable crop management system needs to be developed for the given growing conditions in southwestern Germany. Field experiments were conducted at the experimental station Ihinger Hof in two consecutive years (2016, 2017). The study aimed to evaluate yield and quality traits of chia depending on different (i) row spacing (35, 50 and 75 cm), (ii) sowing densities (1, 1.5 and 2 kg ha−1) and, (iii) N-fertilization rates (0, 20 and 40 kg N ha−1). It consisted of three independent, completely randomized field experiments with three replications. Results showed that chia seed yields ranged from 618.39 to 1171.33 kg ha−1 and that a thousand seed mass of 1.14 to 1.24 g could be obtained. Crude protein-, crude oil- and mucilage contents varied from 18.11–23.91%, 32.16–33.78% and 10.00–13.74%, respectively. Results indicated that the year of cultivation and the accompanied environmental conditions, like precipitation or temperature, influenced the determined traits more than the applied agronomic practices. As average seed yields exceeded those obtained in the countries of origin (Mexico, Guatemala) while having comparable quality characteristics, chia holds great potential as an alternative crop for farmers in southwestern Germany

1993 Kentucky Bluegrass Variety Test Report

Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) is the third most prominent cool-season grass used in Kentucky for, forage, behind tall fescue and orchardgrass. As with all cool-season grasses, Kentucky bluegrass does best in cooler weather, becoming dormant in hot, dry conditions. It is a high quality, long-lived, rhizomatous grass that is used for both turf and forage. Compared to other cool-season grasses, Kentucky bluegrass is slower to germinate (2-3 weeks) and generally is lower in seedling vigor and herbage yield. Most recent varieties of Kentucky bluegrass have been developed for turf use; therefore, primary emphasis has been placed on improving turf quality factors such as color and texture. Several of these varieties have also been\u27 used on horse farms because it is a low growing species that is tolerant of close grazing by horses. It is highly acceptable to horses and has no known toxicities. In horse pastures, Kentucky bluegrass grows well with white clover, a low growing, grazing tolerant legume, that is also a favorite of horse pasture managers. While it is more suited for use by grazing animals Kentucky bluegrass may be harvested as hay. Management is similar to that for other cool season grasses

Does Fungal Endophyte Infection Improve Tall Fescue’s Growth Response to Fire and Water Limitation?

Invasive species may owe some of their success in competing and co-existing with native species to microbial symbioses they are capable of forming. Tall fescue is a cool-season, non-native, invasive grass capable of co-existing with native warm-season grasses in North American grasslands that frequently experience fire, drought, and cold winters, conditions to which the native species should be better-adapted than tall fescue. We hypothesized that tall fescue’s ability to form a symbiosis with Neotyphodium coenophialum, an aboveground fungal endophyte, may enhance its environmental stress tolerance and persistence in these environments. We used a greenhouse experiment to examine the effects of endophyte infection (E+ vs. E−), prescribed fire (1 burn vs. 2 burn vs. unburned control), and watering regime (dry vs. wet) on tall fescue growth. We assessed treatment effects for growth rates and the following response variables: total tiller length, number of tillers recruited during the experiment, number of reproductive tillers, tiller biomass, root biomass, and total biomass. Water regime significantly affected all response variables, with less growth and lower growth rates observed under the dry water regime compared to the wet. The burn treatments significantly affected total tiller length, number of reproductive tillers, total tiller biomass, and total biomass, but treatment differences were not consistent across parameters. Overall, fire seemed to enhance growth. Endophyte status significantly affected total tiller length and tiller biomass, but the effect was opposite what we predicted (E−\u3eE+). The results from our experiment indicated that tall fescue was relatively tolerant of fire, even when combined with dry conditions, and that the fungal endophyte symbiosis was not important in governing this ecological ability. The persistence of tall fescue in native grassland ecosystems may be linked to other endophyte-conferred abilities not measured here (e.g., herbivory release) or may not be related to this plant-microbial symbiosis

A GIS-based method for household recruitment in a prospective pesticide exposure study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent advances in GIS technology and remote sensing have provided new opportunities to collect ecologic data on agricultural pesticide exposure. Many pesticide studies have used historical or records-based data on crops and their associated pesticide applications to estimate exposure by measuring residential proximity to agricultural fields. Very few of these studies collected environmental and biological samples from study participants. One of the reasons for this is the cost of identifying participants who reside near study fields and analyzing samples obtained from them. In this paper, we present a cost-effective, GIS-based method for crop field selection and household recruitment in a prospective pesticide exposure study in a remote location. For the most part, our multi-phased approach was carried out in a research facility, but involved two brief episodes of fieldwork for ground truthing purposes. This method was developed for a larger study designed to examine the validity of indirect pesticide exposure estimates by comparing measured exposures in household dust, water and urine with records-based estimates that use crop location, residential proximity and pesticide application data. The study focused on the pesticide atrazine, a broadleaf herbicide used in corn production and one of the most widely-used pesticides in the U.S.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We successfully used a combination of remotely-sensed data, GIS-based methods and fieldwork to select study fields and recruit participants in Illinois, a state with high corn production and heavy atrazine use. Our several-step process consisted of the identification of potential study fields and residential areas using aerial photography; verification of crop patterns and land use via site visits; development of a GIS-based algorithm to define recruitment areas around crop fields; acquisition of geocoded household-level data within each recruitment area from a commercial vendor; and confirmation of final participant household locations via ground truthing. The use of these procedures resulted in a sufficient sample of participants from 14 recruitment areas in seven Illinois counties.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>One of the challenges in pesticide research is the identification and recruitment of study participants, which is time consuming and costly, especially when the study site is in a remote location. We have demonstrated how GIS-based processes can be used to recruit participants, increase efficiency and enhance accuracy. The method that we used ultimately made it possible to collect biological samples from a specific demographic group within strictly defined exposure areas, with little advance knowledge of the location or population.</p

Increasing biomass in Amazonian forest plots

A previous study by Phillips et al. of changes in the biomass of permanent sample plots in Amazonian forests was used to infer the presence of a regional carbon sink. However, these results generated a vigorous debate about sampling and methodological issues. Therefore we present a new analysis of biomass change in old-growth Amazonian forest plots using updated inventory data. We find that across 59 sites, the above-ground dry biomass in trees that are more than 10 cm in diameter (AGB) has increased since plot establishment by 1.22 ± 0.43 Mg per hectare per year (ha-1 yr-1), where 1 ha = 104 m2), or 0.98 ± 0.38 Mg ha-1 yr-1 if individual plot values are weighted by the number of hectare years of monitoring. This significant increase is neither confounded by spatial or temporal variation in wood specific gravity, nor dependent on the allometric equation used to estimate AGB. The conclusion is also robust to uncertainty about diameter measurements for problematic trees: for 34 plots in western Amazon forests a significant increase in AGB is found even with a conservative assumption of zero growth for all trees where diameter measurements were made using optical methods and/or growth rates needed to be estimated following fieldwork. Overall, our results suggest a slightly greater rate of net stand-level change than was reported by Phillips et al. Considering the spatial and temporal scale of sampling and associated studies showing increases in forest growth and stem turnover, the results presented here suggest that the total biomass of these plots has on average increased and that there has been a regional-scale carbon sink in old-growth Amazonian forests during the previous two decades

Growth, Yield Performance and Quality Parameters of Three Early Flowering Chia (\u3cem\u3eSalvia hispanica\u3c/em\u3e L.) Genotypes Cultivated in Southwestern Germany

The combination of consumer’s ongoing demand for chia (Salvia hispanica L.) alongside the increased demand for regionally produced food products provided the impetus for this study. Its aim was to test if a regional cultivation of new chia genotypes, which were adapted to day lengths greater than 12 h, is feasible under Central European conditions. Therefore, three early flowering chia genotypes (Sahi Alba 914, W13.1, G8) were cultivated in a randomized block design at two experimental stations in Southwestern Germany (Ihinger Hof, Eckartsweier) over the course of two years (2015, 2016). Mean yields ranged from 100 to 1290 kg ha−1. Mucilage content ranged from 9.5% to 12.2%, while the crude protein content ranged from 17.2% to 25.0%. Crude oil content fell in the range of 30.9–33.7% and the PUFA:SAT ratio ranged from 4.0 to 9.4, whereas the omega6:omega3 ratio varied from 0.27 to 0.5. As chia seed yields surpassed yield levels obtained by their countries of origin and as quality parameters obtained, were in line with the genotypes cultivated in their countries of origin, it can be assumed that a regional chia production in Southwestern Germany offers great potential, being ecologically and economically profitable